Maria Sakkari battled for about 2.5 hours against Elena Rybakina, but lost 2-1 sets after a thrilling match and was eliminated from the semifinals at the WTA Finals.
A huge upset was achieved by Maria Sakkari against Elena Rybakina. The athlete from Kazakhstan eventually took the victory 2-1 sets with a battle that lasted about 2.5 hours.
After this defeat, Sakkari has no hopes of qualifying for the top four with No. 4 in the World ranking claiming the second ticket from the group against Sambalenka.
The first ticket has already been secured by Jessica Pegula after her victory over Sabalenka, who will be Sakkari’s third opponent at the WTA Finals.
The match: The first set is not particularly amenable to criticism. Maria Sakkari made many effortless mistakes trying to make it difficult for her opponent, she missed the finish line several times and made her opponent’s life easier.
Rybakina took advantage of all the mistakes of the 28-year-old Greek, made her own game with deep shallow shots and easily reached the 1-0 set 6-0.
01 November 2023 03:02
The second set was a completely different story. Sakkari managed to get some big hits that she was looking for in the first set and couldn’t find them, she held her serve, erased three break points and so the two tennis players were led to the tie break.
There, Ribakina was the one who made the mini break first, but Sakkari quickly took it back. The athlete from Kazakhstan made another mini break, but the continuation belonged to Sakkari who closed the second set 7-6 (4) and sent the match to a third.
Sakkari, with her psychology at its height, tried to break in the first game, but Rybakina held on and erased a triple break point of the 28-year-old Greek.
The World No. 4 was the one who finally made the break in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. However, Sac responded with the same coin by breaking back.
The two gymnasts again settled their differences in the tiebreak only this time it was Elena Rybakina who was smiling and took the victory 7-6 (2).
