Greek Tennis player, Maria Sakkari, heads to the semi-finals where she is set to compete against Jessica Pegula in the Qatar Total Open 2023 in Doha tonight.
The rivalries split their four meetings in 2022, with Sakkari taking the lead over Pegula, 4-2, winning their final meeting last year at the WTA Finals.
In the 2-hour and 41-minute match this morning, Sakkari advanced to the semi-finals defeating Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) in the Qatar Open quarterfinals. The 27-year-old would break the first two serves against Garcia, but the pair would go unbroken in the final two sets.
Finishing with 30 winners to 21 unforced errors and saving all three break points, Sakkari kept a clean sheet against Garcia with only five break points. Garcia finished with 43 winners to 44 unforced errors.
The fantastic FOUR in Doha 👋
— wta (@WTA) February 16, 2023
Who will battle it out in the final? 🏆@QatarTennis | #QatarTennis pic.twitter.com/ZAHhUPaRU5
After the match, Sakkari said in an interview with WTA Tennis, “The conditions were very tough for both of us,” Sakkari said. “I think we did a really good job in the second set of holding our serves and not giving the opponent a chance to break. You don’t see that often in women’s tennis. It was pretty impressive.”
“That third-set tiebreak was something special. I was brave, when in the second-set tiebreak I wasn’t, and I’m just very happy,” Sakkari added.
