Kostyuk 1st title in Austin

Final day in Austin.

2023 ATX Open, a WTA 250 tournament, on Hard, in Austin, Texas, USA, 27 February - 5 March 2023.

This is a new tournament on the WTA Tour calendar

Final:

Varvara Gracheva (Russia) v Marta Kostyuk (8) (Ukraine)

In the five previous contests between the players, Kostyuk was ahead 3-2, but Gracheva won the most recent match - a quarter final in Chicago in 2021.

This was the first WTA final for both players.

Gracheva served first in the final, and in a five deuce game saved three break points.

She couldn’t survive a fourth, and Kostyuk broke serve.

Gracheva immediately broke back to love, and it was 1-1.

Serving continued to be a problem as Kostyuk also broke to love for a 2-1 advantage.

After five successive service breaks, Kostyuk led 3-2.

Kostyuk was taken to deuce in the sixth game, but still managed to hold serve and consolidate her lead.

Gracheva was broken for the fourth time in the following game, and Kostyuk extended her lead to 5-2.

Serving for the set, Kostyuk was unsurprisingly broken, given the trend of the match.

Gracheva would now be serving at 3-5 to stay in the set.

A 40-0 lead disappeared, together with two more game points, and Gracheva also had to save two set points.

A third set point was too much though and Kostyuk finally broke to take the set 6-3.

Set two began with two service holds.

Gracheva then achieved the first service break in game three.

The pair exchanged breaks in the next two games and Gracheva led 3-2.

That lead was strengthened with a love game on serve.

Games were on serve until Gracheva was serving at 5-4 for the set.

One set point was wasted thanks to a forehand error from Gracheva.

Another forehand mistake gave Kostyuk a break chance.

A volley winner from Kostyuk confirmed the break and it was 5-5.

At 40-30, after a double fault, Kostyuk delivered an underarm second serve, which surprised everyone.

She won the point with a backhand winner and held serve.

Gracheva served at 5-6 to stay in the match.

At 30-30, Gracheva hit a forehand long - match point for Kostyuk.

Another Gracheva forehand was out of court, and the match was over.

Marta Kostyuk won 6-3 7-5 to capture her first WTA title.