Julia Grabher Reaches Round of 16 in Philadelphia
The Vorarlberg native had to fight until the end but prevailed in the tie-break.
Julia Grabher advances to the round of 16 at the WTA Challenger in Philadelphia.
Grabher defeated Slovenia's Veronika Erjavec (WTA-106.) 7:6(5), 3:6, 7:6(3) after a total playing time of 2:22 hours.
Both players held their opening service games, followed by a series of breaks. Grabher (WTA-125.) immediately secured a second break, but Erjavec managed to draw level at 3:4. The first set went into a tie-break, where Grabher earned two set points – ultimately taking the lead with a crucial mini-break.
In the second set, the player from Vorarlberg dropped her serve first, but broke back to level at 3:3. In immediate retaliation, Erjavec broke for 4:3 and leveled the match at 1-1 in sets with her second set point. In the decisive third set, Grabher secured a break for 3:2 – but conceded a break at 5:5. The match was decided in a tie-break.
In this tie-break, Grabher started with mini-breaks for 1:0 and 4:1, eventually winning the tie-break 7-3.
In the round of 16 of the WTA-125 tournament, Grabher will now face American Ashlyn Krueger (WTA-62.).
