Varvara Gracheva vs Sloane Stephens Prediction & Betting Tips - ATX Open

Prediction published on 02/03/2023, 10:56  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 02/03/2023 at 14:44 in Tennis Predictions

Fifth seeded Sloane Stephens takes on unseeded Varvara Gracheva in the ATX Open quarter finals. Stephens is in her second successive quarter final after reaching that stage in last week's Merida Open. The second round of that tournament saw her take on Gracheva with Stephens winning in three sets after dropping the first one. Stephens won't want to be reminded of her semi-final last week as that was lost 6-0 6-0 to eventual champion Camila Giorgi. The 29-year-old began this week ranked 51st but is up to 47th in the live rankings and 85th in the Live WTA Race. Up to the second half of February it hadn't been a great year for Stephens with her first three matches of the year all being lost. Better form is being shown now though and Stephens has had wins over Taylor Townsend and Heather Watson. The American is the only seed left in the top half of t the draw and the winner of this match takes on either Katie Volynets or Peyton Stearns in the last four.

Varvara Gracheva started this tournament in 88th place but her run to the quarter finals has seen her rise ten positions. Gracheva was as high as 59th last year. It's been an inconsistent year so far for the Russian. Her best result came in the Australian Open when knocking out Daria Kasatkina in the first round losing just two games. Gracheva made it to round three where she was beaten by Karolina Pliskova. That was the beginning of a run of three losses in four matches. The 22-year-old lost in the qualifying rounds in Lyon but was reinstated as a lucky loser only to be beaten by Maria Sakkari in the second round. It was the same story last week in Medira with a qualifying loss, reinstatement and then second round loss. This week has seen her win two matches with a win over top seeded Magda Linette in round one and then a victory over Anna Biinkova with both matches going to a final set. We could well see another tight match here with Stephens our tip to progress.