The two met for the first time with the 20 year old Russian facing a very tough foe. Svitolina took home her 15th WTA title at Strasbourg and earned a day of rest. In her eighth entry into the main draw, the 26-year-old looked to overcome her back to back third-round exits and get a terrific start against the rookie.
She went on the offensive as soon as the ball got across to her, setting up the breakpoints. The two-time quarterfinalist showed how well her form was and consolidated the break for a 2-0 stand. Svitolina refused to let Gracheva get a game win under her belt, anticipating the next return and placing herself on the court to knock in the winner. The Ukrainian let up a bit on serve in the fourth, allowing the Russian to force deuce. Bringing her presence near the net, Svitolina attacked with groundstrokes to maintain her dominance.
Gracheva pulled off a serve to love in the fifth, showing better on her opponent’s return game.
Problems from both sides of Svitolina’s racket allowed the Russian a break back in the sixth, sitting two games down. Gracheva worked the third seed around the court, making it difficult for her to gain control in the rallies. Getting to deuce was necessary to stop the loss of ground but continued on for the 20-year-old.
Gracheva completed the comeback to sit four-all with Svitolina who was figured out on the court and being threatened with going a set down. On serve in the eighth and a double break up, Gracheva fell behind as Svitolina posted herself near the middle of the baseline before coming in for the breakpoint smash. With the lead back, she earned a chance to serve for the set but blew the lead that handed Gracheva the five-all tie with the triple break.
A much-needed break for Svitolina arrived, ending a stressful eleventh game. Gracheva in her attempts to save breakpoint sliced one wide to give the third set the 6-5 lead. In her second attempt, the 26-year-old failed to contain Gracheva’s power that pushed things to a set tiebreak. Svitolina played five previous tiebreaks this season and had never lost one of them.
After a two-all tie, Svitolina added a gap on her service to reach a 6-2 position for set point. It came to a close in 58 minutes with a move from the third seed into the court and deliver a lob that was good to go. Svitolina narrowly outscored her 46-41 with the first serve doing better than her Russian opponent in what was a very even fight.
The next set began with Gracheva earning the early break on Svitolina. She was broken back in the second but followed it up with a double break of the third seed. With three breaks of serve, the 20-year-old sealed a hold of service with an ace taking a 3-1 lead. Svitolina recovered from the loss in the third and held her own in the fifth, sitting a game down of the Russian. The 26-year-old got aggressive, forced deuce, but couldn’t lock down the AD point.
She knew a hold in the seventh was necessary to keep her straight sets hopes alive. Despite needing to battle on serve at deuce, she took the five minute battle with Gracheva to force an error by the Russian to sit a game down. A huge break put the third seed back in the driver’s seat, leveling the score at four-all with the service back in her hands. She notched a serve to love giving her the shot at the match with Gracheva serving to extend.
Svitolina got ahead in the tenth with two match points but lost one with a return into the net. She wouldn’t lose it on the second as a shot from Gracheva sent one into the net to end her run in 1 hour and 37 minutes.
"It was not easy," Svitolina said during her on court interview. "I was leading in the first and I think Varvara really stepped up her game and was hitting the ball much better, making me work for that first set. In the second she got the momentum going and I had to play every single point, finding a way and played much better."
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