Austin, Texas — marta kostyuk And Varvara Gracheva Each Saturday reached her first WTA final by defeating an American at the ATX Open.
Eighth seed Kostyuk took five of his last six matches to eliminate the 2022 Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-3 in the first semi-final of the day. Gracheva made comeback in last four games to lose Katie Wolinets 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in nearly two and a half hours in a matchup between a pair of unseeded players.
The 20-year-old Kostyuk of Ukraine is ranked 52nd. Gracheva is a 22-year-old from Russia who is ranked 88. A tour-level trophy will be earned for the first time on Sunday at the inaugural edition of the hard-court tournament in the Texas capital.
Against fourth-seeded Collins, Kostyuk saved five of six break points and won four of his opponent’s service games. Kostyuk reached the semifinals of the first four tournaments he played, but never progressed past that stage.
Collins was looking to reach his first Tour title match since going that far last season at Melbourne Park before losing to Ash Barty. Collins is 0-5 against seeded opponents in 2023 and her career mark in WTA semifinals is now 3-9.
Gracheva, who has never progressed past the third round in a Grand Slam tournament, has won three of her four matches in three sets this week.
She had made it to the semifinals at a WTA event just once before and lost at that stage the second time. But after trailing 4-2 against Volinets in the final set, Gracheva, 21, from California, did not lose another game.