No. 88 Varvara Gratseva produced the biggest upset of the first two days at Roland Garros on Monday night, coming from a set down to beat No. 6 Maria Sakkari 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round .
Born in Moscow, Gracheva became a French citizen in 2023. Backed by a vocal and partisan crowd at Court Simonne-Mathieu, the 23-year-old gave her adopted nation a big reason to cheer after battling to claim her fourth Top 10 win in her career and her first season.
Sakkari is the first sport in the Top 10 that fell in the first two days of the tournament. No. 1 Iga Swiatek and No. 3 Coco Gauff earned their opening wins on Monday.
Reigning Wimbledon champion and No. 5 Marketa Vodrusova dropped just four games in her first win over Rebekah Masarova, winning 6-1, 6-3. In the second round she will face Katie Volynets.
Gracheva reached a career high of No. 39 in January. But as she prepared to play her first Roland Garros as a French national, Gracheva was mired in a mediocre season. During the spring hard-court season, he was stuck on a seven-game losing streak that finally snapped on the green in Charleston.
Anatomy of a disruption: Sakkari entered the match having won all four sets the two had previously played, including a 6-2, 6-2 victory a few weeks ago in Rome. She quickly added a fifth to that tally, breaking Gracheva three times in the first set and trying to avoid a fourth first-round exit in a Slam in her last five appearances.
But despite her continued return pressure on Gracheva, Sakkari managed to break just once in the rest of the match. Overall, the Greek star was 4 of 15 on break point opportunities. In contrast, Gracheva was effective five out of six.
After breaking Sakkari for a 3-1 lead in the second set, Gracheva held off five break points in the next game to consolidate her lead. She broke Sakkari again to close out the second set and force a third and rode that momentum into a perfect final frame.
Next: Gracheva will face either Bernarda Pera or Nao Hibino in the second round. She is bidding to make the third round in Paris for the third time in her career.
More to come….