End of the road for Gracheva in Tokyo: French player falls to Bencic in the round of 16

Coming through the qualifiers, Varvara Gracheva fell to a stronger opponent in the round of 16 at the Tokyo tournament.

After her victories against Emiliana Arango and Maddison Inglis in the qualifiers and then against Wang Xinyu (4-6, 6-3, 6-4) in the previous round, Gracheva had earned the right to compete in the round of 16 of the WTA 500 Tokyo tournament.

The French player faced Belinda Bencic, world number 13, who was making her debut in the Japanese capital. This was a first-time matchup between these two players, who had never faced each other before.

Defeated by Jasmine Paolini in the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 Ningbo last week, Bencic responded perfectly and gained the upper hand over her opponent of the day. The 28-year-old player ultimately won in two sets (6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour 25 minutes) and qualified for the quarterfinals.

She will face Karolina Muchova for a spot in the semifinals. The two women are tied in their head-to-head record (2-2). However, it was the Czech player who won their last encounter, which was in the third round of the WTA 1000 Montreal during the summer (6-7, 6-2, 6-3).

As for Gracheva, world number 82, she strung together three wins in the same tournament for the first time since the WTA 1000 Cincinnati, when she reached the quarterfinals after coming through the qualifiers.