Gracheva managed to save multiple set points, closing the gap to 5-3 before breaking the five-time Grand Slam champion to even the set.
Despite Swiatek having multiple match points in the 12th game, Gracheva continued to fight, eventually securing the set 10-8 in a tiebreak on her fifth set point.
In the third set, Swiatek broke Gracheva early on, ultimately winning 6-0, 6-7 (8), 6-2 after a back-and-forth battle that lasted two hours and 11 minutes.
Next, Swiatek, who won the French Open earlier this year, will face Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, the No. 15 seed. This victory marked Swiatek’s 28th WTA 1000 match win of the season, the most in a single season for her, second only to Serena Williams’ 36 WTA 1000 match wins in 2009. It also marked her tour-leading 53rd win of the season.
Gracheva, ranked No. 69, defeated Australian Ajla Tomljanovic (6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5)) in the previous round of the tournament.
Cincinnati WTA 1000, other second-round matches (Lindner Family Tennis Center, hard, USD 3,211,715):
- Marta Kostyuk defeated Lulu Sun (Q): 6-3, 7-5
- Jessica Pegula vs. Karolina Muchova
- Anastasia Potapova vs. Jasmine Paolini
- Mirra Andreeva vs. Karolina Pliskova
- Yulia Putintseva vs. Coco Gauff
- Anna Kalinskaya vs. Paula Badosa
- Taylor Townsend vs. Daria Kasatkina
- Liudmila Samsonova vs. Magda Linette
- Aryna Sabalenka vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
- Ashlyn Krueger vs. Diana Shnaider
- Leylah Fernandez vs. Elena Rybakina
- Elina Avanesyan vs. Jelena Ostapenko
- Elina Svitolina vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
