Sakkari – Sabalenka 0-2: Loss and elimination for Maria in the Indian Wells semifinals

Maria Sakkari (No.7) tried but failed to qualify for the final of the 1000th tournament in Indian Wells. Arina Sabalenka (No. 2) won with a 2:0 (6:2, 6:3) set, showed great stability and is now waiting for her next opponent, one of Svyotek – Rybakina.

Sakkari on the other hand had a great tournament. She overcame great obstacles and even with reversals, but in the end she could not reach the source as her opponent was obviously fresher.

The match

Sabalenka only managed the break in the fourth game of the game. Sakkari reacted immediately. She responded trailing 2-3 but it wasn’t enough as she then failed to convert her serve and the Belarusian suffered a second break.

Dominating all statistical categories, Maria’s opponent showed stability and made life difficult for Sakkari. So Sabalenka ended the first set 6:2 with a third break.

Sabalenka also started the second set strong, made the break and was 2-0 in the games. Sakkari was able to react immediately, canceled the counterattack and equalized to make it 2-2. However, the Belarusian found another break, made Maria difficult with her returns and took a 4-2 lead.

The world No. 2 took advantage of Sakkari’s poor second serve numbers to end the match 6-3 in games. Maria Unlike the previous games where he had around 40 unforced errors, this time he only made 15. But she only had nine winners, which didn’t allow her to claim more.