Maria Sakkari managed to pass the first difficult test in the National Bank Open 1000 tournament by winning with 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 of American and world No. 59 Sloane Stephens after 2 hours and 9 minutes while scoring her first career win in Toronto.

The Greek tennis player showed an excellent face in the 1st set due to her excellent serve, she even had the absolute best score in the 1st serve (12/12), however in the 2nd the consistency was lost which was very good The percentages went down, although she made a big upset converting 1-5, 4-5.

He dominated from the middle of the 3rd set and by winning the last four games of the match he managed to win and qualify for the 3rd round of the tournament.

An almost perfect set

The start was ideal for Sakkari. Within 19 minutes she was up 4-1 after finding a break in game 4 (3-1) but the most important thing was that she had energy on the pitch, patience against the… hasty Stephens who filled the rallies with several mistakes.

However, the Greek tennis player’s big “weapon” was serve, as she went 63% on the first serve and even won her claimed 12 points (12/12), while losing just three total from the 2nd serve, which isn’t particularly needed became (4/7).

On the contrary, while the American passed more first serves (77%), only 52% of the points won didn’t help her much in the first set, which ended with another break from Sakkaris.

He tried to reverse the transaction, but cost the service

The 2nd game started completely differently, with Stephen grabbing an emphatic break (loveplay) while then first managing to clear a triple break point (0/40) and then another first to go 2-0 after a long game.

Sakkari had to come back from 0/30 to set her first hold in set 2 and reduce to 2-1 while grabbing another break point immediately after, but again the American with an amazing backhand in the straight and an effortless performance broke through the Greek tennis player retained the lead in both games (3-1).

The bad thing for the world No. 4 was that she had lost the consistency she had shown on her serve in the 1st set. Although he led 40/15 in game 5, a barrage of errors (including a double fault) delivered that Stephen on a break point, which she took advantage of with another mistake from Sakkari, making it 4-1 and holding the balls to make it 5-1.

This was also their first essentially easy service game Stephen which also redeemed the 2nd break, just one game away from equalizing.

Immediately afterwards, it was Sakkari’s turn with the first light hold of the set, reducing to 5-2, while then earning her first break, this time reclaiming one of her two lost serves on her first opportunity (5-3).

Sakkari’s winning streak continued in the next game, with the Greek tennis player reducing to one game (5-4) after winning three times in a row, but that wasn’t enough to stay in the set Stephen even if it is difficult and can be reached after a lost setpoint of 6-4 and 1-1.

A perfect epilogue

In the deciding set, Sakkari seems more comfortable on her serve, avoiding mistakes by getting two relatively easy holds, but also the 8 aces total, with her percentage back to 60+% in previous first serves.

But the same thing happened to her on the other side of the court Stephen to win the first two service games after Sakkari on score (2-2) while threatening in the 5th game by “tamping” the serve of the Greek tennis player who needed her 9th ace in the game to make 3- to reach. 2.

SOURCE: Tennis24