Maria Sakkari carried her form from Indian Wells to the Miami Open, where she celebrated her first victory in three years, making an impressive debut against Yue Yuan.
The leading Greek tennis player defeated Yuan 6-2, 6-2 and qualified for the next round of the Miami Open in 79 minutes.
Sakkari avoided unnecessary mistakes, played very aggressively and came to victory in an imposing manner.
It was the first victory for Sakkari on the main court of the Hard Rock Stadium, where in the last two years she had been eliminated at the start. Her last tournament wins came in 2021, when she had her best run at the Miami tournament, reaching the semi-finals.
Textbook defense 👉 offense!
— wta (@WTA) March 21, 2024
That forehand from @mariasakkari âš¡#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/y5HEhEPWoE
Sakkari showed her mood early on and didn’t let Yuan catch her. She led 4-0 in the 1st set and closed it in 8 games.
In the 2nd set, she took control early on and “escaped” with 4-1. She also closed this in the 8th game, in which Yuan served and managed to come back from 0-40, but finally Sakkari made it 6-2 on her 5th match point.
Sakkari finished the match with 20 winners and 13 unforced errors, while Yuan had 8 winners and 18 unforced errors. This was the 2nd meeting of the two players on the tour and the second straight sets victory for the Greek.
In the next round of the Miami Open, the Greek tennis player will face the winner of the match between Daria Saville and Dayana Yastremska.
Source: tennisnews.gr