Grabher and Paszek

ÖTV ladies in lockstep in the quarterfinals

Julia Grabher and Tarmis Paszek were highly successful on Thursday.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Shared joy is double joy! This also applies to Austria's tennis ladies. On Thursday, both Tamira Paszek and her Vorarlberg compatriot Julia Grabher were able to celebrate a victory in the round of 16 on the ITF Tour. 

For Julia Grabher in particular, her second win in a row was a source of satisfaction, as she had previously suffered four first-round defeats in a row. But at the ITF W35 tournament in Reus, Spain, the 28-year-old from Dornbirn presented herself as a strong fighter and player. 

Set deficit turned around
Although the former world number 54 had to give up a lead twice in the first set with a break and concede the set 4:6 to her German opponent Carolina Kuhl, Grabher did not let this throw her off course. In the second set, she made a break to make it 4:3 and then secured the set 6:3 with another break.

In the third set, the 19-year-old Kuhl - currently ranked No. 418 in the world - quickly took a 3:1 lead, but that was the end of the young German's powder. Grabher held her service from then on without any problems and didn't allow her opponent a game on her own serve either. After exactly 2:57 hours, the Vorarlberg native left the clay court as a 4:6, 6:3, 6:3 winner, thus celebrating two wins in a row for only the second time since her wrist operation last fall and is now in the quarterfinals, where either Eva Vedder (Hol/WTA no. 221) or Sada Nahimana (Bdi/WWTA no. 244) awaits.

Rain breaks slow Paszek down
A second Dornbirn player also made it there at the W75 tournament in Le Neubourg in north-western France. Tamira Paszek eliminated the eighth seeded Israeli Lina Glushko (WTA no. 231) 6:4 and 7:5 after 1:59 hours of play. In the first set, Paszek, who is currently ranked 385th in the WTA world rankings, managed to make the preliminary decision with a break to 4:3.

The 33-year-old then kept her nerve in the second and was not rattled by rain breaks, a 5:3 lead by her 24-year-old opponent or a set bar she had to fend off. Paszek will now face the winner of the match between the top-seeded Ukrainian Daria Snigur (WTA No. 123) and the French wildcard player Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (WTA No. 429) in the last eight.