Grabher is defeated by Swiatek
The hurdle against the No. 1 in the world still seemed a bit too high. In the match against Iga Swiatek , Julia Grabher (WTA No. 92) lost 3:6, 2:6 despite a courageous performance.
by Dietmar Kaspar
last edit: Apr 28, 2023, 09:39 pm
Unexpectedly, Julia Grabher met the industry leader in women's tennis. After the Vorarlberg native was defeated by the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska in the final round of qualification, she was supposed to move up into the main draw as a lucky loser and was able to defeat Viktoriya Tomova from Bulgaria in two sets at the start.
In the first clash against Iga Swiatek, Grabher was already under pressure in her first service game, but was just able to avoid losing service after defending two breakballs. In the fourth game of the first round, however, the 26-year-old conceded the first break. Although Grabher was able to keep a game open for a long time when Swiatek served, he still had to give up the first set without his own break opportunity. In the second round, Swiatek used the momentum at the beginning and quickly pulled away 3-0. Grabher then got back into the game better, but couldn't turn the match around and had to admit defeat after 78 minutes 3:6, 2:6.
In the third round, the top seeded Swiatek will meet the US American Bernarda Pera, who is ranked No. 28 and who was able to clearly beat last year's Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria. Despite the defeat, Grabher can look back on a successful tournament, the Austrian was able to equalize her most successful performance so far at the WTA 1000 level a few weeks ago in Miami.
Pegula starts successfully
Last year's finalist Jessica Pegula from the USA celebrated a successful start to the tournament. The No. 3 on the seeding list prevailed 7:6, 6:3 against the Polish qualifier Magdalena Frech. The American Alycia Parks, who served well, delivered a surprise against the two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka with her 6: 2, 7: 6 win.