Defeat in Split

Grabher still has to wait for her comeback victory

Julia Grabher still has to wait for a sense of achievement.

(Bild: Mario Urbantschitsch)

The 27-year-old Julia Grabher from Vorarlberg still has to wait for her first win after her lengthy wrist injury. At the ITF W75 tournament in Split, Croatia, Austria's number one lost to qualifier Pia Lovric (Slo) 3:6, 4:6 after 75 minutes. 

After the Dornbirn native had to admit defeat to the German Noma Noha Akugue 7:5, 5:7, 2:6 in round one at the WTA125 tournament in Antalya (Tur) last week in her very first tournament appearance after a month-long break, she also suffered an opening defeat in Split on Tuesday.

The chances were already there
Grabher was trailing 0:3 in both sets against Lovric, the number 529 in the WTA world rankings. Although she then fought back, she ultimately failed to capitalize on her chances. While Lovric was able to convert four of her six break points, the Vorarlberg native only managed to take the service from the Slovenian on two of her six chances.

Yuriy Rodionov had to wait in vain in Estoril for the continuation of his first round match against Chile's Cristian Garin. After a rainy day, all matches of the clay court tournament were finally canceled and postponed to Wednesday.