French Open 2021: Sofia Kenin bows out in Fourth Round, loses to Maria Sakkari in straight sets
Follow Us
Sofia Kenin and Maria Sakkari
The poor run of top ranked women’s players continued as the highest remaining seed in the tournament, Sofia Kenin was knocked out of the Fourth Round at the 2021 French Open. Greek 17th seed Maria Sakkari stormed past the 4th seed American in straight sets 6-1,6-3. With her victory over Kenin, Sakkari has reached the quarterfinal stage at a grand slam for the first time in her career.
Sakkari was now joined countryman and good friend Stefanos Tsitsipas to make it to the Last 8. She was fierce right from Game 1. She displayed her power game, hitting baseline winners both from the forehand and the backhand side of the court. She double broke Kenin in the opening set upfront and took a 4-0 lead. The American showed guts and broke in the very next game but couldn’t manage to win any games further. She couldn’t hold serve in any of her service games, losing the set 1-6 in just 28 minutes.
In the second set, Kenin finally managed to hold serve for a game, but was again broken by the hard-hitting Greek in the 5th game as she stormed off to a 5-1 lead. Kenin shown some resilience in the later stages of the match, breaking Sakkari, but it was all artificial excitement as Sakkari won the set 6-3 and eventually at the match in 68 minutes.
‘I am having a great time and I don’t want to leave anytime soon’: Maria Sakkari
In the on court interview with Marion Bartoli, Sakkari spoke her heart out. The Greek couldn’t stop smiling all the way and shared her feelings after reaching the quarterfinal at a grand slam for the first time.
She said: “I’m speechless because it’s the first time. It’s one of my favorite tournament. I love Paris. I am having a great time and I don’t want to leave anytime soon. I will try my best to stay until the end for sure.”
Sakkari also shared her mantra which helped her make it so deep at Roland Garros. “The thing is I’m actually enjoying myself and that’s most important. I enjoy my time on court and I’m not torturing myself when I’m on court. The match day before yesterday gave me a lot of confidence. I played really good tennis so today I was ready for a battle and I won,” she concluded.
Maria Sakkari will either play defending champion Iga Swiatek or Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinal on Wednesday.
Stay Updated!
Lakshya Chopra
(2650 Articles Published)