Kostyuk takes down Collins for ATX Open final and Gracheva defeat Volynets

Marta Kostyuk dominated Danielle Collins in the semifinals of the WTA 250 ATX Open Austin and will play against Varvara Gracheva in the final.

The Ukrainian was superior to Collins throughout the match and showed a better serve than in the rest of the tournament, as the American only managed to break once out of six opportunities. In the first set, both players had a good serve and only one break from Kostyuk gave her the advantage to take the first set.

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Although the American showed resistance in the second set, she was never able to be superior to the 20-year-old player who took advantage of her opportunities to overcome the former 2022 Australian Open finalist. World No. 38 Collins had not found her level in the tournaments she played after the Australian Open until this week at the ATX Open, where she entered as the 4th seed, and achieved victories against Magdalena Frech, Cathy McNally, and Anna Kalinskaya.

Marta Kostyuk reached the first final of her career with a score of 6-4, 6-3 over the former top-10 player.

The second semifinal match was between two young players: 22-year-old Russian Varvara Gracheva and 21-year-old American Katye Volynets.

In the first set, neither of the players had a good serve, but Gracheva managed to prevail 6-4 in a set that had a total of seven breaks. The American only won 39% of her first serve, which helped her opponent to put pressure on her in every service game.

In the second set, Volynets was ahead 5-4 and with the serve in her favor to tie the match, but Gracheva managed to get a break to extend the match. The North American maintained her focus and broke her opponent's serve again to ultimately win the set 7-5. In the final set, the tennis players were more precise with their serves, and although the North American took the lead with the first break, her opponent was better under pressure and won the last 4 games, achieving the victory by 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Kostyuk and Gracheva will fight this Sunday to get their first WTA level trophy.

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