After almost two hours

Julia Grabher fights for opening victory in New Zealand

Julia Grabher started in New Zealand with a three-set victory.

(Bild: REUTERS)

Austria's former tennis number 1, Julia Grabher from Vorarlberg, had to fight harder than she would have liked at the ITF tournament in Tauranga on New Zealand's North Island. But after a fight lasting almost two hours, the 28-year-old left the court as a 6:1, 3:6, 6:3 winner against Australian Stefani Webb.

After narrowly losing the Billie Jean King Cup duel against Ukraine in November, Julia Grabher had stayed in the USA and played the ITF W50 tournament in Boca Raton, where she was only beaten in the quarter-finals by Eva Vedder from the Netherlands. The former world number 54, who had even dropped out of the top 1000 in the world rankings for a time following wrist surgery in the fall of 2023 and has since fought her way back up to position 490, then took a four-week break from the tournament.

Sovereign until the thread broke
The Dornbirn native has now returned from this break with an opening victory at the ITF W35 hard court tournament in Tauranga (Nzl). Grabher got off to a confident start against Australian Stefani Webb: After three breaks and just 30 minutes, she won the first set 6:1. 
In the second set, however, the thread broke for the protégé of coach Günter Bresnik, who is looked after by her brother Alex on New Zealand's North Island. After the 19-year-old Webb, the current world number 1325 who only made it into the tournament thanks to a wild card, was able to break Grabher's serve twice, she won set two 6:3 to level the score at 1:1.

Julia Grabher's brother Alex is not only at her side when they go ice bathing together - he is also playing in New Zealand.

(Bild: Maurice Shourot)

Strong performance in the third set
But in the decider, the player from Vorarlberg remembered her strengths and started directly with a break. After she was able to take Webb's serve once again to make it 5:2, the match was over. Although the Australian managed to break back to make it 3:5, Julia immediately made everything clear with her third break and was the 6:1, 3:6, 6:3 winner after 118 minutes of play. "It was just brutally difficult today, as I've never experienced such a wind in a match before," Grabher revealed in a phone call with the "Krone".

Local heroine a solvable task
In the round of 16, the tournament's number three will now face New Zealand's local hero Elyse Tse, who beat Japan's Nanri Katsumi 6:0, 5:7, 6:2 to open the tournament. The 20-year-old is currently ranked number 1210 in the WTA rankings and should therefore be an easy task.