Sakkari – Begu 2-1: Shocking Maria reached the final in St. Petersburg

No matter how much Irina Begu (No. 56) used her and pressured her for most of the game, Maria Sakkari (No. 7) showed character and stamina to prevail after a stunning 2-1 win over Romania through three hours while securing your first ticket to Sunday’s (13/1) final at the Open St. Petersburg.

There, the Greek champions will meet the winner, who will emerge from the second semi-final between Jelena Ostapenko and Annette Conduit.

The changes in the lead are numerous, the breaks are enough, but it was Maria who, with stubbornness, efficiency in service and passion, especially in the critical points, won the coveted victory qualification against the aggressive game of her opponent. She will now win her second career title in the city of Russia.

The race

The first set was equal up to 2:2, Maria Sakkari started well but missed chances for an early break. The Romanian also found difficult solutions behind her serve and even threatened the Greek with a break a little later. In the seventh game of the first set, and with the score 4-3 in favor of Maria, the no. 1 on the board pressed Romania and broke out, albeit with difficulty, to take a two-game lead in the set. The answer came immediately from Begu, who broke the break and shortened it again. Somewhere Maria was stubborn, breaking her opponent’s serve again and winning the first set 6-4.

Begu wasn’t intimidated by the way she lost the first set and paid Maria in the same coin with a break. They were leading 2-0 early in the games but the Greek’s response was immediate and put the head in the notch. At the end of the set, the two athletes were close, but in the tiebreak, Romania was the one who was more focused and won.

The third set was a derby and the two athletes were very close. With a break at a critical point in the set, Maria took a huge lead and eventually ended the match to celebrate a great qualification for the final.