Maria Sakkari (No.7) celebrated a great qualifier for the Indian Wells semifinals by defeating Petra Kvitova (No.15) 2-1 (4-6, 7-5, 6-1) after a 2-hour battle defeated 16 minutes.

After the great match, the Greek champion described the victory over the Czech Republic as one of the greatest comebacks of her career, which she spoke of in the best of words.

“She’s one of the players I respect the most. She has won so many titles but most of all she is a great girl, a very good person. Not only is she a great tennis player, it’s her personality, everything she’s been through in her career, I respect her a lot and I’m sure everyone in the dressing room respects her as much as I do.”

The big prize came along the way: “Yes, it was one of the biggest comebacks of my career because not only did I lose a set and a break, but he made me play like an amateur in the first set. He played very well. I had to try and concentrate on different things look over the net and see what i can do better to put them in an awkward position i think it worked i tried to play more physical and all that All I can say is I need a pedicure because my toes are bleeding.”

When asked about her next opponent, Alina Sabalenka (No. 2), she replied: “She’s a different player than when we last met. She recently won a Slam (i.e. the Australian Open), she is confident. I saw part of her game today and she hit the ball hard, I heard from the commentators that she is “I’ve only played nine rallies over nine hits in the whole match. It’s going to be tough, another big hitter . I can only try to find solutions. I haven’t played my best tennis yet, but I’m in the semifinals.” . Mentally I’m doing very well and I’m going to stay here until the end.”