For her first match at Roland-Garros as a French player, almost a year after her naturalization, Varvara Gracheva had a dream evening. The 88th player in the world achieved one of the big performances of the first round in the women’s draw on Monday, defeating Maria Sakkari, the number 6 seed in the tournament, on the Simonne-Mathieu court (3-6, 6-4, 6-3).
Facing the 2021 semi-finalist of the tournament, Gracheva did not tremble after the loss of the first round, leaving the Greek to foil alone in the second round. As if to show her domination in front of the Simone Mathieu audience which was starting to fill up, the Frenchwoman won the set on Sakkari’s serve, a big smile on her face as she changed sides.
And as the sun began to set, Gracheva remained strong, not weakening under the weight of a lost first match point to the sound of “Allez Vava” which resonated near the greenhouses of the orangery. Beyond launching her season perfectly against a top 10 player who was largely worn out in the Parisian exercise, the 88th in the world took her revenge on the Greek after the correction received in the second round in Rome against Sakkari (6-2, 6-2).
Gracheva can now enjoy a successful start, and calmly turn towards the second round where she will face the American Bernarda Pera (80th in the WTA rankings). The latter easily dominated the Japanese Nao Hibino (6-2, 6-0), Monday evening
2024-05-27 18:59:02
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