Greek tennis star Maria Sakkari has advanced to her third straight quarter final after defeating world number 7, Astra Sharma 6-4, 6-1 at the Charleston Open today.
Despite what the final result shows, it was not easy for Sakkari to prevail. She found very strong resistance from the Australian in the 1st set and needed almost an hour to close it.
Even though she had led 4-2, she found herself behind 4-4, 15-40 and almost lost her serve at a very crucial point. This “hold” was decisive, with Sakkari standing upright on her serve and making it 5-4 in her favour, to then close the set with a break for 6-4.
In the 2nd set, the match may have opened up and Sakkari cleared the situation by winning the first 5 games, but it does not mean that she was not troubled by Sharma, who had led 40-15 in the 2nd game, while she also had 3 break points in the 5th game.
Maria Sakkari to the crowd after reaching Charleston QF:
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 5, 2024
“I know it’s cold tonight. Thank you for staying. It’s amazing to play in front of you. Thanks to the Greek crowd that’s here. It’s 4 or 5 people, but 4 or 5 Greeks is equal to 300”pic.twitter.com/x0NwrJfOhA
None of these opportunities turned into a game, so Sakkari reached 5-0, to effectively “clean up” the case of qualification.
All the Australian managed was to cut it to 5-1 with a love service game, with Sakkari responding with a love service game of her own, to complete the triumph in the 7th game.
Sakkari has won 9 of the 11 matches she has fought in America in the last month, that is, since she started her partnership with David Witt.
She advances to her third straight quarter-final after Indian Wells (final) and Miami (quarter-final), as well as her second in Charleston after 2019.
Tomorrow, Sakkari will face Veronika Kudermetova in the quarter final of the Charleston Open.
Source: tennisnews.gr.
