The Greek Maria Sakkari defeated Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday and sealed her ticket to the semifinals of the WTA Finals of Fort Worth (USA), on a day that also saw the victory of Tunisian Ons Jabeur over American Jessica Pegula.
Sakkari won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4 with a good start to the match where she barely gave Aryna Sabalenka a chance.
The second set was more even, with Sakkari starting 3-0 which invited thinking about a quick resolution, but Sabalenka recovered and was more confident in her game, bringing the score to 4-4.
The Greek managed to break his rival’s serve again and served for 5-4 in a thrilling game that went to four par forty times to the only match point for Sakkari, which he did not waste.
The Greek, number five in the world, is the sole leader of the Nancy Richey group with two wins in two games and ensures its presence in the semifinals of the tournament.
This is his second participation in this final tournament of the year and he repeats in the best-of-four round as he did in 2021. Sakkari will now be looking for her first final after a lesson learned last year, when she lost in three sets to Estonian Anett Kontaveit.
In the first game of the day in Fort Worth, the Tunisian Ons Jabeur achieved his first win. He did it before Jessica Pegulain a clash where both will be looking to atone for their debut loss on Monday.
He won in three sets 1-6, 6-3 and 6-3 in one hour and thirty-eight minutes and became a historic milestone, becoming the first Tunisian to win a match at the WTA Finals.
Ons Jabeur is also the first African tennis player to reach the WTA Finals since 2001.when South African Amanda Coetzer lost in the first round.
After losing the first set giving up her serve as many as three times, she was unfazed and regained her best version.
“He played the first set very well, and I was able to change my game.. He played the ball so fast, he wanted to do that. I was able to change the chip to change the flow of the game and impose my game more than his,” he said.
His reaction can be seen, above all, in the strength of his game in important moments, winning the last three games in both the second and third sets.
“It was very difficult to sleep the first day. The first game was very close and disappointing. I want to remain optimisticI listened to my coach who gave me very positive vibes, gave me the confidence to face this match and prepared me mentally for this second match”, said the Tunisian tennis player after recovering his chances of qualifying for the semifinals with a win on Wednesday night.
The world number two thus manages to regain confidence and depends on himself to reach the semifinals, goal in which he became one of the favorites for his numbers. Jabeur is the second tennis player with the most wins in the year 2022, with a total of 47 wins, behind the Polish Iga Swiatek.
The WTA Finals continue this Thursday on the second day of the Tracy Austin Group, which On the one hand, the confrontation between Iga Swiatek and the Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia stood out, both winning their first meeting.
Another clash on Thursday will feature American Coco Gauff and Russian Daria Kasatkina, both looking for their first tournament victory.
Source: La Verdad
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