Varvara Gracheva
Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova will take on No.2 seed Varvara Gracheva in the quarter-final of the WTA 125K Paris event
Kamilla Rakhimova is an emerging star in the women’s circuit and has been impressive at the ITF level so far this season. She won the ITF Mexico tournament earlier this year in February and notably reached the semi-finals of Copa Colsanitas in April.
The Russian ace is seeded No.9 in Paris and has done well so far in the tournament. She is yet to drop a set but the job gets much tougher now as she is scheduled to faced the 2nd seed Gracheva. It remains to be seen if Rakhimova has what it takes to cause an upset.
Varvara Gracheva is an emerging star in the women’s tennis circuit. She is currently ranked World No.46 in WTA singles and has been drawn as the second seed in the WTA 125K Paris tournament. However, the Russian has not been in the best form of late. She has come to this event at the back of two consecutive first-round exits from her previous tournaments – the Madrid Open and the Italian Open.
Gracheva won her opening encounter against local favourite Carole Monnet in convincing fashion. Despite suffering a minor hiccup in the second set, the 22-year-old emerged victorious 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 and then went on to register a convincing victory against Selekhmeteva in the next round. She now faces a tricky challenge against fellow Russian Rakhimova. Gracheva is one of the favourites for the title in Paris but it remains to be seen if she can go all the way and clinch the title.
Date – Friday, 19th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Paris
Match details – Quarter-final
Rakhimova and Gracheva have never played each other before on the WTA tour. This is the first professional head to head clash between the two players. On paper, Gracheva is the favourite both in terms of experience and rankings. However, one can certainly not rule out the in-form Rakhimova and she is expected to put up a tough fight. We are predicting a close match with Gracheva eventually winning in three sets.
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