Maria Sakkari pulled off a third straight comeback win to beat Petra Kvitova and reach back-to-back Indian Wells semi-finals.
Last year’s runner-up came from a set and a break down to beat the 15th seed 4-6 7-5 6-1.
It is Sakkari’s fourth consecutive three-set win at Indian Wells, with the last three coming after she dropped the opening set.
“For me, coming back against her, now that she’s playing good, now that she has beaten so many good players, it’s a bloody good win,” said Sakkari.
“It’s a good Kvitova again. I’m not saying that in a bad way. But last year for me, it was a lot easier [against her] than this year. She’s now in a good form.
“I just feel like the fact that I found a way today was one of the best comebacks of my life.”
Kvitova had taken out world No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the previous round and she looked strong in the opening set against Sakkari as she built a 5-2 lead.
Sakkari pulled a break back but Kvitova closed out the set in her next service game.
The momentum looked to be firmly with Kvitova as she broke to love to start the second set.
The two-time Grand Slam champion fired a return winner to bring up another break point for a 3-0 lead.
But Sakkari held and fended off two more break points in her next service game before levelling at 3-3.
Sakkari’s next opening came in the final game of the set and she took it after coming back from 40-15 down.
The deciding set started with three love-holds in a row before Sakkari broke for a 3-1 lead.
The world No. 7 was now more consistent and better on serve as she applied more pressure on Kvitova, who finished the match with 12 double faults.
Sakkari got another break for 5-1 and closed out the win with a forehand winner in two hours and 15 minutes.
Sakkari has won her last two meetings against world No. 2 Sabalenka.
“I think I’m more calm on court, and I’m able to control my emotions,” said Sabalenka after her win over Gauff.
“Which helped me to stay in the game no matter what, and just fight for every point, without losing my mind and without giving easy points to opponents.”
The other quarter-finals see world No. 1 Iga Swiatek face Sorana Cirstea and Karolina Muchova meet Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
– – –
Read the full article here
