WTA 250 Iasi: Gracheva knocked out in round of 16 by Cirstea

Varvara Gracheva was competing for a spot in the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 tournament in Iasi. The French player, ranked 106th in the world, had started her tournament strongly earlier this week with a win over Ana Bogdan (7-5, 6-2) and followed it up with a round of 16 match against another Romanian player, Sorana Cirstea. The 35-year-old had eliminated her compatriot Mihaela Buzarnescu in her opening match (6-2, 6-2).

In their head-to-head record, Cirstea led 2-0 before this match and had never lost a single set against her opponent ahead of this third encounter.

In 2022, at Melbourne, during their first meeting, Gracheva—who was still representing Russia at the time—had lost without winning a single game. Despite a strong start this time, Gracheva failed to capitalize. After leading 2-0 with serve to follow, she then lost the next six games of the first set.

Though more solid on her serves in the second set, she faltered at the worst possible moment, at 4-4, before losing the match in the following game (6-2, 6-4 in 1h17). Cirstea advances and will play in the quarterfinals against Maria Carle, who upset top seed Elina Avanesyan (7-6, 6-2).