Tennis: Grabher lost the Rabat final against Bronzetti in three sets

The 26-year-old lost to Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti 4-6,7-5,5-7 in Rabat on Saturday, giving the 24-year-old from Rimini a 2-1 head-to-head lead. For Grabher it is still the biggest success on the tour so far. With the confidence she gained in Morocco, she now travels to Paris, where she meets Aranxta Rus of the Netherlands at the French Open on Tuesday.

The final of two unseeded and thus outsiders was also one for the first title on the tour. While it was Grabher’s premiere at this level, Bronzetti suffered a defeat in the final in Palermo last year. The world number 102. managed a break in the first game, but Grabher made up for the gap by halftime. But Austria’s number one could not correct the loss of service to 3: 4 in her third tour duel with an Italian this year.

Both have the best of several WTA statistics in converting breakballs, Bronzetti is even better than Grabher. But neither of the two players gave the other the chance to prove their ability in the second round up to 4:4. But then Bronzetti struck again. The immediate rebreak Grabhers came at the right time, as they already returned against the loss of the match. In the game that followed, the currently best ÖTV player successfully defended herself several times against another break and subsequently fixed the set equalization.

The Dornbirner kept the pressure, went 3-1 in front in the third set, but then lost the thread or the upper hand and found herself four games later 3-5 behind. The world number 74. managed another rebreak and equalized to 5:5, but in a hard fought finish the last two games went to Bronzetti, who lives in Rimini. This leaves Yvonne Meusburger the last red-white-red winner on the WTA tour so far, the Vorarlberg native had won the Bad Gastein title in 2013. Grabher also failed to succeed Casablanca tournament winner Patricia Wartusch.

However, coach Günter Bresnik’s protégé will tackle the French Open with her clearly best career placement, the live ranking promises Grabher position 61. If she won the final, which lasted over 2:48 hours, she would be close to the top 50 approached. Grabher takes 20,226 dollars (around 18,800 euros) in gross prize money from North Africa to France.