Greek tennis star, Maria Sakkari overcame the world number 119, American McCartney Kessler in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, in 1 hour and 11 minutes at Wimbledon.
According to WTA, the Greek world number nine had lost her first-round matches in five of her six prior Grand Slam singles attempts and was relieved to have won.
“I’ve been struggling a little bit in Grand Slams in the last couple of tournaments, you know, with first-round losses. So that was in my mind”, 28-year-old Sakkari said.
“But I feel like today I was brave and strong enough to just overcome that fear.”
Sakkari is one win away from reaching the third round of a Slam for the first time since the 2023 Australian Open. Her next opponent will be Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, who defeated Yuan Yue 6-2, 6-3 to go to the Wimbledon second round for the first time since 2012.
Source: WTA
