After the sensational match, which was decided on the tie-break of the third set, h. Maria Sakkari defeated the “evil demon” Caroline Garcia with a score of 2: 1 and received a “ticket” to the semifinals of the tournament in Doha, where on Friday (17/2, not earlier) she will meet with American Jessica Pegula than at 15:30).
Against the tennis player by whom he has been defeated all three times in the battles they have fought so far on the Tour, the Greek champion was calm in the decisive moments of the match, firmly adhered to her plan and finally justified herself, having received a “ticket” to the next phase after 2 hours and 41 minutes.
The 27-year-old, world No. 7 and No. 5 in the table, came out of victories over Zeng and Alexandrova and had against her the 29-year-old No. 3 in the table and No. 5 in the table. WTA. The background was on the side of the Frenchwoman, who in 2017 in the semi-finals of the 1000th tournament in Wuhan (China), twice in 2022 in the “32” Cincinnati (WTA 1000) and in the semi-finals of the WTA Final Tournament in Guadalajara. , it was she who played 3×3 against Sakkari.
Today, the latter was determined to break the negative streak she had in H2H with Garcia, and she succeeded, mainly due to the perseverance she showed when she was pressured by her opponent, and the big serves she served at the decisive points of the sets.
Sakkari showed strength in the first set, which she won 6-2 with two breaks on Garcia’s serve, which made many mistakes effortlessly. The Frenchwoman was expected to push in the second to turn the tide in her favor, and she did so from start to finish in a set that was ultimately decided in detail, with world No. 5 reaching the tiebreak level (7-6/ 5).
Absolute balance existed in the third and decisive set as well, with two players holding the serve for all 12 games (6-6), so everything was decided again in the tie-break, where she even lost 3-1 this time. and 4-3, Sakkari found the hits she needed to reach the final to celebrate with a score of 7-6 (5).
Source: RES-IPE
Source: Kathimerini
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