Kazakhstan fifth seed Elena Rybakina overcame a testing opening set and early forehand issues to defeat Varvara Gracheva 7–5, 6–2 on Rod Laver Arena.
Rybakina was expected to prove too powerful for her French opponent, ranked 77th in the world, but a wayward forehand in the early stages of the opening set almost proved her undoing.
In a see-saw opening set, Rybakina surrendered her serve to fall 2–1 behind, with Varvara Gracheva striking the ball cleanly from the baseline. The Frenchwoman threatened to stretch her advantage to a double break at 4–1, but the Kazakh held firm to fend off further trouble.
Rybakina, who was beginning to look more settled in the contest, then raised her level to secure a double break and move 5–3 ahead, only for her forehand to desert her once more, allowing Gracheva back on terms at 5–5.
The fifth seed composed herself once more, breezing through her next service game before applying pressure on the Gracheva serve to break and clinch the opening set 7–5 in just under 50 minutes.
The second set was a different story, as Rybakina, who had faced seven break points in the opener, came out with intensity from the outset.
After the opening three games went with serve, the 2023 finalist broke Gracheva with a barrage of intense groundstrokes, some unreturnable and others drawing errors.
With her serve in full flow, Rybakina breezed through her service games without facing a single break point in the second set, before sealing the match with a final break of serve, capped by a fizzing, unreturnable backhand.
After the match, Rybakina spoke on court about her performance.
“It was a bit challenging today, the serve was not going as much as maybe the previous match. I was trying to play a point at a time and maybe not rush so much. I’m just happy it went my way and in the second set I managed to step in and it was a little bit better.”
Rybakina will meet Czech Tereza Valentová in the third round.
