Swiatek falters! Maria Sakkari snaps Iga Swiatek’s streak to reach her maiden grand slam semifinal

Swiatek falters! Maria Sakkari snaps Iga Swiatek’s streak to reach her maiden grand slam semifinal

Maria Sakkari and Iga Swiatek

Maria Sakkari produced one of the best performances of her career on Court Philippe Chatrier, knocking out the defending champion, Iga Swiatek in straight sets 6-4,6-4 to make it to her first grand slam semifinal.

The eighth seed was very quick off the blocks. She held serve comfortably and broke Sakkari the very next game. But after that, she seemed to have to weapons left in her Arsenal. Swiatek got broken the next game and found it difficult to hold serve. But she managed to hold it until the 9th game, where Sakkari got the decisive break. She held her nerve to win the set 6-4. With this, Sakkari stopped the 22 set winning streak of Swiatek at Roland Garros.

Swiatek seemed to be struggling physically and went out of the court after the second set. But the break didn’t help her, as had no answers to Sakkari’s power game. The Greek broke her upfront and consolidated it with a strong hold. Swiatek then took a medical timeout trailing 0-2 and played well after that. She held serve well but couldn’t penetrate Sakkari’s serve. Eventually, Sakkari served out the set 6-4 and pulled out the upset of the tournament!

“I’m not gonna tell you the gameplan because we would play again for sure”: Maria Sakkari

Maria Sakkari
Maria Sakkari

In the on court interview, Sakkari was asked whether she could believe it or not that she is a grand slam semifinalist. “No, I can’t believe it,” Sakkari started. “I’m speechless. It’s like a dream coming true. It’s a very nice feeling and I couldn’t have done it without my team and their support. I just want to thank them. We have a long way to go and we took a huge step today.”

Sakkari was then asked her about her gameplan against Swiatek to which she laughed and denied revealing her ‘little secret’.

“I’m not gonna tell you the gameplan because we would play again for sure. So am not gonna say our little secret. I really enjoyed today. Before coming into the match, I sat down myself and spoke to myself. I just enjoyed, this is one of the best stadiums in the world so I had to enjoy it.”

Sakkari will now be up against Barbora Krejcikova in the semifinals. Both the players will be playing their first grand slam semifinal on Thursday.

Also read: French Open 2021: Barbora Krejcikova continues her dream run, beats Coco Gauff to reach maiden grandslam semifinal