Pegoula – Sakkari 2: 0: The American stopped Maria’s course at the Australian Open

Maria Sakkari stayed away from her usual standards. The world No. 8 had a bad day against Jessica Pegula (No. 21) who held up well, suffering a 2-0 sets loss and being ruled out of the Australian Open.

Sakkari had 25 effortless errors, she saw that her serve had failed (she had earned only 34% points behind her second serve unlike Pegoula who, in addition to her excellent performance, also had luck on her side. Characteristically, the The American scored five points using the net while many of her shots were marginal.

Somehow, the 26-year-old Greek failed to break her record at the Australian Open after her course stalled again in the fourth round.

The first set started negatively for Sakkari after Pegoula gave her a break in the first game. Gradually, the 26-year-old Greek increased her pace and managed to win back the break to make it 3-3, but the American responded with a breakback and then held at serve for a 5-3 lead.

Sakkari didn’t give up and won the next three games with the fighting spirit that characterizes her, then Pegoula kept her serve and that’s how we were taken to the tie-break. There, the American took all the points and completed the conquest of the set.

We didn’t have that many breaks in the second set. Pegoula hit one in the fourth game and that was enough for her, since then she’s held on to a 4-1 lead and put Sakkari with her back to the wall.

The 26-year-old Greek tried to react but failed because Pegoula ended the set and match 7-6 (0), 6-3.