Maria Sakkari has advanced to the final of the international tennis tournament, which will conclude tomorrow (Feb. 13) in St. Petersburg. The Greek tennis player, who is the No. 1 seed and ranked No. 7 in the world by the WTA, defeated Romania’s Irina Begu (No. 56 in the world) 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4.

In the first set of the semifinal, and up until the start of the eighth game, both players were holding their serves with relative ease. However, at that point, the 27-year-old Sakkari made the first break of the match to take a 5-3 lead, followed by two consecutive breaks, and finally, after 54 minutes, the Greek tennis player took the first set 6-4.

The 32-year-old Romanian’s response was immediate, and after breaking Sakkari’s serve right off the bat, she held her own serve and took a significant 2-0 lead. At that point in the match, the greatest Greek female tennis player of all time «unleashed» two of her most powerful «weapons»—namely, her tenacity and composure.

And after narrowing the gap to 2-1, she broke Begou’s serve, tying the score at 2-2. She then quickly took a 3-2 lead and, holding her serve, forced a tiebreak. There, the Romanian broke Sakkaris’s serve three times (compared to two by the Greek player) and clinched the set 7-6(4) after one hour and eight minutes.

The battle continued into the third set, in a match that lasted 3 hours and 7 minutes! Begu, who played a great match, took a 2-0 lead in games, but Sakkari’s experience proved decisive. The Spartan champion won the next three games, breaking the Romanian’s serve in turn (3-2), putting her on the back foot. With the score at 4-4, the Greek player broke her opponent’s serve again, then held her own serve to clinch the victory.

GIORGOS DIAKOGIANNIS

Kontaveit to Face Sakkari in the Final

Maria Sakkari will face Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit in the title match tomorrow at noon (Feb. 13, 3:30 p.m.) at the St. Petersburg tournament.

In the (chronologically) second semifinal of the tournament, Kontaveit defeated Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in two sets (6-3, 6-4) and will face the Greek player, with whom she is very good friends.

In the first set, Ostapenko got off to an impressive start and took a 3-0 lead with a break against the Estonian, but then she «disappeared» from the court!

Kontaveit won the next six games (!) and took the first set 1-0. She then broke serve in the second game to make it 2-0, took a 3-1 lead, and Ostapenko tied the score at 3-3 and 4-4, but that was as far as it went…

PANAGIOTIS KOUMANTAROS