After reaching the third round of Roland-Garros in 2021 and 2022, Varvara Gracheva will be there for the second week of the Paris tournament for the first time in her career. The Frenchwoman, 88th in the world, defeated the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu (127th player in the world) in the third round (7-5, 6-3), in a controlled match.
Quickly in front (3-1), Gracheva, born Russian and naturalized French in June 2023, let her opponent come back by very regularly making mistakes on the forehand. The match was balanced and at 4-4, the Frenchwoman had to save a break point. She then got three set points at 5-4 (0/40), erased by the former world 22nd, who ended up cracking under Gracheva’s thrusts, particularly on the forehand.
Heading for the Olympics
The resident of the Elite Tennis Center, in Cannes, had found some momentum and took off in the second set, also taking advantage of a big drop in speed from her opponent. Until leading 4-0 in the second. If Begu returned to 4-2, Gracheva saved two balls from 4-3 then concluded the match with her throw-in. A victory which allows her to be virtually 70th in the world, to overtake French number 4 Océane Dodin and for the moment, to secure his place for the Olympic Games in Paris.
Gracheva will try to qualify for her first Grand Slam quarter-final against the Russian Mirra Andreeva (38th) or the American Peyton Stearns (62nd), who also play this Saturday.
