Sakkari: “I did different things and they worked to reach the semifinals”

Maria Sakkari, after her easy win over Kornet in Berlin, claimed that she played a different game compared to her loss in Nottingham to the same opponent and stuck to her goal in the tournament, which was none other than her presence at least until the semi-finals of the tournament.

Since you lost to Cornet last week, there’s a saying that Maria doesn’t lose twice to the same opponent on grass, right?

“Is it a statement? If you take it out now, I accept it! It’s been tough, last week it didn’t sit well with me. This time I tried doing other things and they worked.”

Alize is a very difficult opponent, she takes a lot of hits. The conditions were different today: damp, slow but with little bounce. It was my first time this year on the main square and I wanted to find a rhythm, which I did well.”

In the first set, which started strong but struggled to build momentum:

“It wasn’t easy, it helped that I had a two break lead. I lost the first one and saved several breakballs in the last game, I showed strength and a good level at that point.”

And he concluded his statements with the words:

“The goal is to reach at least the semi-finals like last year. I enjoyed it then and now there are many improvements that make it one of the best tournaments of the season. We have good weather now, the city is fantastic, good.” Food, what more could you ask for?