Julia Grabher has to give up in the first round at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz. The Vorarlberg native lost 6:7(2), 2:6 to the American Madison Brengle.
The first set is balanced, and in both the second and seventh game Grabher succeeds in re-breaking after losing the service game. Finally, the tie-break has to decide where Brengle keeps his nerve and wins 7:2.
In the second set, the woman from Vorarlberg missed two breakballs in the fifth game, after which the opponent even managed the break to make it 4:2. After an hour and 34 minutes, Brengle used the first match point after a smash mistake by Grabhers.
The American now meets Croatian Donna Vekic in the round of 16.
On the other hand, the misery for the ÖTV women in Linz continues: For ten years they have been waiting for a success with the Upper Austria Ladies. Patricia Mayr-Achtleitner achieved the last victory in the round of 16 in 2013.
Grabher: “Unfortunately I didn’t do my job”
The defeat was for the world number 90. Grabher a heavy blow. “I’m mega-mega-disappointed, unfortunately I didn’t do my job. Sometimes I scored good points, but with so many mistakes it’s not enough at this level,” summarizes Austria’s number one in the ORF interview.
“I tried to play aggressively but I made too many unforced errors and went to the lines too early. It wasn’t good today.”
The pressure of having to fight the ÖTV series of failures in Linz was not to blame for the defeat. “It’s actually good for me when I play in front of an Austrian audience, but unfortunately I didn’t do my best,” explains Grabher.
