Fighting show of strength

Grabher back in the final for the first time in 13 months

Juilia Grabher is back in a tour final for the first time in over a year.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

On August 13, 2023, Julia Grabher last played in a final on the tennis tour at the W100 tournament in Maspalomas on Gran Canaria (Sp) - and won 6:4, 6:4 against local hero Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. Exactly 413 days and a complicated wrist operation later, the player from Vorarlberg has the chance to win the 14th singles title of her career in Sardinia on Sunday.

What Julia Grabher didn't have to listen to on social media when she painstakingly tried to fight her way back to the top of the world in the months following her wrist surgery last fall. But now, over a year later, the 28-year-old finally seems to be back on the road to success.

Confident run to the semi-finals
After the former world number 54, who had temporarily fallen out of the top 1000 and is currently ranked 789th, successfully fought her way through qualifying at the ITF W35 tournament in Santa Marghertia di Pula in Sardinia, she also showed her mettle in the main competition. A 6:3, 6:3 victory over Sara Cakarevic (Fra) was followed by a 6:2, 6:4 win over Eva Vedder (Hol) in the round of 16. In the quarter-finals, she then eliminated the top seeded Belgian Hanne Vandewinkel 6:4, 6:1.

However, the Dornbirn native then had a much tougher time in the semi-finals against the Italian Silvia Ambrosio on Saturday. Although Grabher got her service through to 1:0 in the first set, it was to be the only one in the entire first set. The 27-year-old Ambrosio (WTA no. 430) then took four games in a row to pull 4:1 ahead. As neither player was able to get her serve through after that, Grabher lost the first set 3:6 after 75 minutes of play.

The lightning start was followed by a brief tremor
The start of the second set was completely different: with two breaks, in which she did not allow Ambrosio a single point, and two successful service games, Austria's former number one quickly stormed 4:0 ahead. However, when the Italian, who had competed under the German flag until 2023, closed the gap to 3:4, it was time to tremble again. In the end, however, Grabher kept a cool head, as she had done on several occasions during the tournament week in Sardinia, and after 59 minutes of play she took her first chance to make it 6:4 and level the set.

Marathon match ended in a battle of nerves 
After a toilet break, the deciding set turned into a real thriller. Grabher missed two chances to start with a break in the very first game. Ambrosio did better in return. After two double faults by the Austrian, she increased the lead to 2:0 with her first opportunity, but she kept her cool again, managed to break back immediately and then also got her service through to make it 2:2. In the fifth game, Günter Bresnik's protégé again had two chances to break, but failed to capitalize on them.
The situation was different in the seventh game: When Grabher was 30:15 ahead on Ambrosio's serve, the Italian made two double faults in a row, allowing the player from Vorarlberg to make it 4:3. However, she then failed to confirm the break and conceded the 4:4 equalizer by return. But the player from Dornbirn was determined to win and reach the final. She broke her opponent again to make it 5:4 and, after exactly 3:19 hours, used her second match point to win 3:6, 6:4, 6:4.

Positive record against her opponent in the final
Swiss player Leonie Kung (WTA No. 255), who needed just 13 minutes to reach the final as her opponent Julie Struplova (Tch) had to retire afterwards, now awaits her in the final. In the only duel between the two opponents in the final so far, Grabher narrowly prevailed 2:6, 6:1, 7:6 (7) in Montreux (Sz) in September 2018.