Maria Sakkari secured a place in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals Fort Worth with a prize fund of 5 million USD for the second season in a row.
The world’s No 5 Greek tennis player defeated Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka by 2-0 (6:2, 6:4) in 97 minutes and climbed to top of the Nancy Ritchie Group standings with two wins from two matches.
Maria Sakkari took 9 of the first 11 games, but in the second set, Aryna Sabalenka managed to turn from 0:3 to 4:3. However, with a new series of three games, the Greek still reached success. She arrived in Fort Worth with just one win over a top-10 player on the season, and has already recorded two in her first two tournament matches, after defeating Jessica Pegula (USA) in two tiebreaks at the start.
“If you’re not aggressive enough on the court, you don’t have much of a chance. If I was more passive, especially against a tennis player like Aryna Sabalenka, who hits the ball very hard, I would just lose. It’s been a long time since I’ve won in two sets against players from this level, so I’m happy, it’s a new feeling. I think I performed impressively, and the hard work is finally paying off”, said Maria Sakkari.
In the last match of the group stage, Maria Sakkari will play versus Ons Jabeur (Tunisia), while Aryna Sabalenka will face Jessica Pegula (USA).
