Maria Sakkari became the first Greek woman to qualify for the quarterfinals of the US Open. She did so after a 2-1 (6:7, 7:6, 6:3) victory over the sixth-seeded Canadian Bianca Andreescu.
The match went down in the history of the tournament, as the last point of it was played at 2:13 after midnight, which made it the latest event for the ladies since such statistics were kept in New York.
The 2019 champion Bianca Andreescu, who did not lose a game at the US Open 2021, took the first set after a tiebreak with 7:2 points. In the second set, the game continued to be played game by game and this caused reaching a new tiebreak. In it, Maria Sakkari led with 6:3 points but allowed an equalizer for 6:6. However, the Greek won the next two points and after 8:6 won the set.
At the beginning of the decisive third set, Bianca Andreescu made a break and took the lead with 2:0. However, the Canadian began to receive constant cramps in her legs, which helped the well-prepared Maria Sakkari to turn the match and win it 6:3.
For a place in the semifinals, the Greek will play with the fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova. The 29-year-old Czech achieved a relatively easy success with 2-0 (7:5, 6:4) over the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The British sensation Emma Raducanu also found a place in the top 8 of the tournament. The 18-year-old debutant, who ranks 150th in the world rankings, defeated American Shelby Rodgers with 2-0 (6:2, 6:1) in just 67 minutes of play.
Thus, the British talent, daughter of a Romanian and a Chinese woman, born in the Canadian city of Toronto, qualified for the first quarterfinal of a Grand Slam tournament with only her second participation in the main draw of one of the four most prestigious competitions in the world of tennis.
Emma Raducanu will play with the Olympic champion Belinda Bencic for a place in the semifinals.
