Sakkari – Mertens 2:0: victory of the soul for Maria, qualified for the semi-finals in St. Petersburg

Maria Sakkari qualified for the semifinals of the St. Petersburg tournament. Bag yourself A game that was counted in the first set showed enormous mental reserves and won 2-0 against Mertens.

In the first and, as it turned out, decisive set, the world No. 7 had his back to the wall four times but managed to flip the data and claim the win.

Now they meet in the semifinals Irina Begu, who previously beat Martinsova 2-0 (6-4, 6-2). The 31-year-old Romanian is ranked 56th in the world and has won four titles in her career.

This is the third match between the two tennis players and they count from a win.

The game: The first set was a treat for any tennis fan as it had exciting development and lots of twists and turns. The two athletes rarely stayed on duty and offered many impressive rallies.

The breakdance started with Mertens in the third game and two more followed (one each) and then Belgium held on to lead 4-2. Sakkari did the same with 4-3 and then led the next two games 5-4.

Mertens immediately responded with back-to-back games, causing her to finish the set, but Sakkari broke her again and sent the set into the tiebreak. There, Belgium again had chances to make it 1-0 twice, but Sack held out again to make it 1-0 7-6 (7).

The second set was a different story and Sakkari made sure to clarify it from the start. With two quick breaks, he mentally crushed Mertens and led 4-0. Another break followed for the 26-year-old Greek before her opponent managed the break to stay alive in the set.

The Belgian then pared serve down to 5-2 and then had four break points, but Sakkari once again found a way not to interfere and delivered the 6-2 that ended the game.