Petra Kvitova will have to wait for her first Hologic WTA Tour win as a mother. Playing the second tournament of her comeback from maternity leave, the two-time Wimbledon champion fell 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Varvara Gracheva in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open.

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Kvitova, who gave birth to son Petr last July, returned from an 18-month maternity leave last week in Austin, where she lost 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Jodie Burrage in the first round. Her Indian Wells opener played out in similar fashion, as the unranked wild card powered to a one-set lead but was edged in a tight decider.

Gracheva, the World No. 70, notched her first win over Kvitova, whom she had lost to 7-5, 7-6(5) in the 2023 Miami fourth round. The result was the Frenchwoman's first victory in Indian Wells since making the last 16 in the same year. She will next face No. 9 seed Mirra Andreeva in the second round, to whom she lost 7-5, 6-2 in their only previous encounter (in the fourth round of Roland Garros last year).

After her win, Gracheva paid tribute to former No. 2 Kvitova.

"If you let me step back a little bit, I really want to congratulate her," she said in her on-court interview. "Because she had a child quite recently, and I'm so happy that she now has the role of a mother and a tennis player, which is very demanding. It's very inspiring for sports, athletes, women -- it's just amazing. Petra, my admiration to you -- you're the best!"

'Stability' key for Gracheva: When asked the key to her victory, Gracheva replied without hesitation.

"Stability," she said. "I was trying to battle all the fears, the stress, the big court."

There was little in the way of momentum for either player during the match. Despite the predominance of first-strike tennis and short points, neither could fully rely on her serve. There were 29 break points in total, with Gracheva converting six out of 18 and Kvitova taking five out of 11. But even though the match was narrowly contested to the end, Gracheva's game became cleaner as it went on while Kvitova's did the opposite.

In the first set, Kvitova found some of her best strikes, and bold net-rushing paid off as she tallied 13 winners to 15 unforced errors. But she struck just seven winners in each of the second and third sets, while her unforced error count rose to 55 -- including eight double faults.

By contrast, Gracheva cut her 13 unforced errors in the opener to just one in the second and 10 in the third. She was also able to hold off a late charge by Kvitova, who won three straight games from 3-1 down to lead 4-3. But Gracheva responded with two emphatic service holds, sandwiching another break of the Kvitova serve, to wrap up victory in 2 hours and 22 minutes.