Two qualifiers who have defied expectations will meet in the fourth round of the 2025 Cincinnati Open, as Germany’s Ella Seidel faces France’s Varvara Gracheva. This will be their first career encounter, with the winner set to reach the quarter-finals of a WTA 1000 event for the very first time.
For Seidel, this tournament marks a career breakthrough. Before this year, she had never played in the main draw of a WTA 1000, let alone won a match at this level. Now on a five-match winning streak, the 20-year-old has been the underdog in every round. Her victims include Emma Navarro, whom she defeated 2–1 in the second round, and McCartney Kessler, whom she overcame in yet another three-set battle. As a result, she has surged to No. 105 in the live rankings.
Gracheva’s Road to the Fourth Round
Like her opponent, Gracheva has had to fight through difficult matchups to reach this stage. She took out former Grand Slam champion Sofia Kenin and followed that with a notable straight-sets victory over 11th seed Karolina Muchova.
Now holding a 24–21 season record, with 10 of those wins on hard courts, the 24-year-old is making her third appearance in the second week of a WTA 1000 tournament. Her run in Cincinnati has also propelled her back into the top 100, with a live ranking of No. 96.
Form Guide and Match Dynamics
Both players come into this clash riding five-match winning streaks. Seidel has needed three sets in all her matches at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, while Gracheva has gone the distance in two of her three outings. Their hard-court records this season are positive, underscoring their adaptability on the surface.
Bookmakers see this as an evenly matched contest, with 22bet giving Seidel a 48.24% chance of victory (odds of 2.71) and Vbet rating Gracheva at 51.76% (odds of 1.52). The narrow gap reflects their similar recent form and ability to handle high-pressure moments.
Prediction
Given the way both players have been pushed to deciding sets in Cincinnati, this match is likely to follow the same pattern. Each has shown resilience against higher-ranked opponents, and both will view this as a golden opportunity to make a deep run.
Prediction: Match to feature three sets — expect a tight, hard-fought battle with momentum swings on both sides before one player edges through to her first WTA 1000 quarter-final.