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Post by Admin on Jan 10, 2021 4:10:17 GMT
Maria Sakkari vs. Coco Gauff | 2021 Abu Dhabi Second Round | WTA Highlights
It was far closer than their only previous encounter at Cincinnati (in New York) last summer, but Maria Sakkari got the better of Coco Gauff for the second time in two meetings on Saturday, battlng back from a double break down in the first set to beat the American teenager in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2.
Gauff came out strong in the second-round clash, breaking serve in the opening game, holding her own serve and then breaking again for a 3-0 lead. The match turned on a dime from there, though, as Sakkari reeled off five games in a row to go up 5-3—Gauff got it back to 5-all but the Greek cruised from there, winning eight of the next 10 games to seal the victory after an hour and 28 minutes.
Sakkari had beaten her at the Western & Southern Open last August in 65 minutes, 6-1, 6-3.
“I just stayed patient,” Sakkari said afterwards. “I knew that I had a bad start, but I knew that I couldn’t just keep on playing that way. I had to change something. I took some stupid decisions in the first three games, so I tried to avoid doing them again, and I have to say it worked out pretty well.”
Awaiting the No. 9-seeded Sakkari in the third round will be No. 5-seeded Garbine Muguruza, who beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich earlier in the day, 6-1, 6-4. Muguruza and Sakkari have never played.
“We all know she’s a great champion—she’s won a couple of majors—and she’s been a very good player all these years,” Sakkari said of the Spaniard. “We’ve never played each other, practiced just once. I don’t have very much to say because I haven’t experienced her in a match, but it’s going to be very tough, because I think the court suits her well. It’s a fast surface. I’m looking forward to it.”
It was a mixed bag for the other three seeds in action on Saturday, with No. 2 seed Elina Svitolina beating two-time Grand Slam finalist Vera Zvonareva, 6-4, 6-1, and No. 6 seed Elena Rybakina outdoing China’s Wang Xiyu, 6-4, 6-4, but No. 3 seed Karolina Pliskova falling to No. 292-ranked Russian qualifier Anastasia Gasanova, 6-2, 6-4, in the first huge stunner of the 2021 women's tennis season.
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Post by Admin on Jan 12, 2021 0:47:39 GMT
Marta Kostyuk vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo | 2021 Abu Dhabi Quarterfinal | WTA Highlights
Sofia Kenin vs. Maria Sakkari | 2021 Abu Dhabi Quarterfinal | WTA Highlights
Elina Svitolina vs. Veronika Kudermetova | 2021 Abu Dhabi Quarterfinal | WTA Highlights
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Post by Admin on Jan 13, 2021 22:04:40 GMT
World No. 10 Aryna Sabalenka put on a ruthless display of power tennis in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, hitting almost three times as many winners as unforced errors to cruise past Maria Sakkari in just 57 minutes, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals of the WTA 500 event. It was also her 14th win in a row. A day earlier, Sakkari was the giant-killer—after falling behind 6-2, 2-2 to Sofia Kenin, she won 10 games in a row to score the biggest win of her career over the No. 4-ranked American, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. But there would be no turnaround for the Greek on Tuesday, as Sabalenka dominated from start to finish. She flew out of the blocks, winning 12 of the first 13 points of the match and going up 3-0 after just six minutes—she would eventually close the first set out after 28 minutes on court. The second set started off with three straight holds and Sakkari finding herself up 2-1, but Sabalenka caught fire once again, rattling off five games in a row to sprint past the finish line, even serving it out at love.  The Belarusian’s numbers in the match were phenomenal—she finished with 14 more winners than unforced errors, 22 to 8, and her serve was even more lethal with eight aces to just one double fault. Sakkari, meanwhile, finished with a -9 differential of winners to unforced errors, 12 to 21. Sabalenka won almost twice as many points in the match, 62 to 33. “I like to play against her,” said Sabalenka, who’s now beaten Sakkari four times in a row. “I think I’m just putting pressure on her every match we’re playing, and it’s helped me win all those matches.” Sabalenka’s 14-match winning streak—a career-best—began after a third-round loss to Ons Jabeur at Roland Garros last October. She went 9-0 the rest of 2020, picking up back-to-back indoor titles in Ostrava, Czech Republic and Linz, Austria, and she’s gone 5-0 so far this week in Abu Dhabi. |
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Post by Admin on Jan 14, 2021 4:54:19 GMT
No.5 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara captured their fourth team title at the 2021 Abu Dhabi WTA Women's Tennis Open, defeating No.8 seeds Hayley Carter and Luisa Stefani 7-6(5) 6-4. The Japanese duo, who first paired at the 2019 Toray Pan Pacific, capped off a successful week that began with having to save four match points to defeat Andrea Klepac and Marta Kostyuk in the first round, prevailing 4-6, 7-5, 12-10, and included a dominant win over top seeds Hsieh Su-Wei and Barbora Krejcikova in the quarterfinals.  The first round we couldn't do our best at the beginning," Aoyama said. "During the 10 point tiebreak (against Klepac/Kostyuk) I tried to talk more with my partner about what I want her to do and it's much better, our play, and that's why we could get the win. And then it was much better round by round. In the final we talked a lot and we kept fighting and we never gave up." "It was definitely a rollercoaster," Shibahara said. "There were some match points to save in our first match and I think that really helped us through our next rounds. Even if we're down, we can come back. Even playing Su-Wei and Barbora, they're such high level players, so we just had to take it one point at a time and I think that really helped us.  |
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