Sakkari, Sabalenka’s opponent in the Madrid semifinals

The Greek Maria Sakkarininth in the world rankings, reached the semifinals of the tennis tournament in Madridof category WTA 1,000with their closest victory in this edition, 6-7 (3), 6-4 and 6-2 against the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.

the belarusian Aryna Sabalenkasecond favorite, his next opponent, in Thursday’s semifinals at the Caja Mágica.

Maria Sakkari is IN-DES-TRUC-TI-BLE!

The Greek achieved the victory after almost three hours of play and got the ticket for the semifinals of @mutuamadridopen #MMOPEN #TennisRTVE

Get comfortable, the slutty session is here with Tsitsipas-Zapata: https://t.co/RtgLoeBL1W pic.twitter.com/adsuvs7c1o

– Teledeporte (@teledeporte) May 2, 2023

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Neither Sakkari nor Begu had lost in the tournament and the Greek was the first to do so, although Begu had to go all the way to a tiebreaker to beat him. Previously, each lost three serves, in the Romanian’s case serving twice to win the set.

After eliminating Spaniard Paula Badosa in the round of 16 supported by her good serve, Sakkari was not very good on her serve against Begu and had to come back to rejoin the match.

He did so in the second set where he was broken three times, although he gave away two of his serves, enough to guarantee a third set.

Here, the Athenian led 3-1 and then 5-2 before closing out the game and going into the penultimate round.

Sakkari also played in the semifinals this season at another WTA 1,000, this time in Indian Wells, and lost in that round against her future rival in Madrid, Sabalenka (6-2 and 6-3).