Wimbledon 2023: Aryna Sabalenka mounts comeback to survive Varvara Gracheva scare and reach third round

Aryna Sabalenka survived a scare to reach the third round at Wimbledon, coming from a set down to beat French youngster Varvara Gracheva.

The second seed found herself in serious trouble after surrendering the opening set, but she grit her teeth to launch a fightback and eventually triumph 2-6 7-5 6-2.

It was far from a complete performance from the Australian Open champion, who was unable to compete at the All England Club last year due to the tournament’s ban of Russian and Belarusian players.

But Sabalenka did enough to battle through in her bid to reach a fourth consecutive Grand Slam semi-final, and she will face world No. 40 Anna Blinkova next.

It was an ominous start for Gracheva, as she immediately coughed up two break points in the opening game and lost the first through an unforced error.

But the Frenchwoman showed signs of what was to come with a superb response, earning an immediate break-back point and seizing it when Sabalenka’s forehand drifted long.

The second seed’s serve then fell to pieces towards the end of the set.

Gracheva won every point on Sabalenka’s serve for two consecutive games to break her 25-year-old opponent twice and win four consecutive games to clinch the opener.

The irritated Belarusian excused herself for a bathroom break between sets as she tried to re-gather her thoughts ahead of a must-win second set.

She was initially unable to threaten against the Gracheva serve as both players opened with a love hold and remained rock-solid as an extremely tight set progressed.

But the pressure eventually told when Gracheva was serving at 5-5, as Sabalenka took a crucial break to leave her serving for the set.

And the second seed held her nerve to finish the job and send a knife-edge encounter into a decider.

Sabalenka pushed at the start of the third and found an early break to go 2-1 up, making up for squandering two break points in Gracheva’s opening service game.

By now she had rediscovered her confidence behind her serve and kept Gracheva at arm’s length with a series of commanding holds.

Gracheva managed to save two more break points but eventually cracked on the third as her resistance broke to concede a double-break at 5-2 and leave Sabalenka serving for the match.

The world No. 2 finished in style with an ace to seal a hard-earned victory.

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