Greek tennis starlet Maria Sakkari stunned tennis fans when she beat out defending titleholder Iga Świątek in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
Sakkari lost the first two games, but reacted immediately. She took back the break, improved her serve and at the critical point she took advantage of her opponent’s continuous mistakes and broke her serve again, taking a 5-4 lead.
The 17th seeded Greek lost a few points and needed to save a break point, but came back to win the first set 6-4 and took the first step to victory. This also marked Świątek first set loss at the Roland Garros since June 2019.
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Sakkari was unstoppable, starting with a break in the second set. At 2-0, the World No. 8 requested a medical time-out and temporarily left the court, returning after about ten minutes with a bandaged leg. The interruption broke Sakkari’s rhythm a little, but with an excellent service kept the lead and cleared the win in one hour and 35 minutes.
“I am speechless. It is a dream coming true,” said Sakkari in a post match interview.
“I couldn’t have done it without my team and their support and I just want to thank them and we still have a long way to go, of course but we made a huge step today.”
Tomorrow (AEST) Sakkari plays unseeded Barbora Krejcikova for a spot in the grand final.