For Julia Graber and Sinja Krause, the WTA clay court tournaments on Thursday in Charleston and Bogotá ended in the round of 16. Grabher from Vorarlberg lost to world number 17 Russia in the United States. Ekaterina Alexandrua scored 4: 6 2: 6, and Krause from Vienna had no chance in the Colombian capital at 2: 6 2: 6 against Italian Nuria Branchio.
06.04.2023 21.20.2020
Online since yesterday, 9.20pm
(Update: Yesterday, 10:34 p.m.)
Graber, who won in Charleston with victories over world number 28 China. Zhang Shuai and against American Sachia Vickery reached the round of 16 of the WTA 500 for the first time, made a good start against Alexandrowa, seeded 7 in South Carolina, and led 4-1, but then the Russians took over.
As a result, the 26-year-old from Vorarlberg managed to win only two matches and had to concede defeat after almost an hour and a half. Grabher used only two of her seven break opportunities, and her opponent five out of ten.
However, the balance sheet is impressive.
“Every defeat hurts,” Graber said in a Facebook post. “I haven’t been able to replicate my last performances today and I’m obviously disappointed. The balance sheet is still impressive.”
In the second duel in her career with the top 20, the woman from Dornbirn managed at least one match more than the first. In her Grand Slam debut in January at the Australian Open in Melbourne against Estonian Anett Kontaveit, then ranked 19th in the world, she lost 2:6 3:6. In the world rankings, top seeded Austria will move from 89th to 80th for the first time Monday.
Kraus couldn’t keep up with Brancaccio in the first round of 16 after her first win on the WTA Tour. The 20-year-old Viennese, who qualified for the main draw and beat top-ranked Argentine Nadia Podorowska in the first round, lost to the Italian after less than an hour of play and only scored four games.
Sinja Kraus celebrated her first victory in a major WTA competition in Bogota at the third attempt
Krause served just 44 percent of her first serve. Brancaccio, ranked No. 206 in the world rankings and 38 places behind an ÖTV player, has gotten serve from her six times. The Austrian second seed seized two of his three break opportunities – one in each set. But the quarter-finals were elusive. However, Kraus would improve to a new career high away from the top 150 in the world rankings.
Like Grabher, you will now go to Delray Beach for the Billie Jean King Cup. There, the Austrians will meet the US record winners next week as obvious outsiders.
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