Sakkari knocks off No. 2 seed Osaka in quarters
No. 23 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece defeated Miami Open second seed Naomi Osaka 6-0, 6-4 in the quarterfinals at Hard Rock Stadium. Her next opponent is No. 8 seed Bianca Andreescu.
Naomi Osaka arrived at the Miami Open cruising on a 23-0 winning streak dating back 13 months, and with an opportunity to leave having returned to the world No. 1 ranking if the tournament worked out perfectly.
Instead, the four-time
Grand Slam champion departed Hard Rock Stadium disappointed after Wednesday’s quarterfinal. The winning streak was over and the top ranking no longer in the offing, at least for now.
In a match between two first-time Miami quarterfinalists, an in-form No. 23 seed Maria Sakkari had the audacity to intervene with the reigning Australian
Open champion’s continued history-making plans with a 6-0, 6-4 win.
Osaka, who grew up in nearby Boca Raton before relocating to Los Angeles, seemed at a loss as to how her game crumbled while facing Sakkari, who now has six career victories over top-5 ranked opponents.
“What can I learn from the loss?” Osaka, 23, said. “I’m not really sure right now, I knew that going
into the match … she’s like a really big fighter, so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
“I felt like I haven’t been playing well this whole tournament, like I couldn’t find a groove, so mentally it’s really hard for me.”
While Osaka is definitely Japan’s greatest player, Sakkari is in contention to possibly become Greece’s best-ever women’s player.
The No. 25 ranked Sakkari, and her male counterpart, No. 2 seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, who plays No. 26 Hubert Hurkacz in Thursday’s men’s quarterfinals, are quickly putting Greece on the tennis map for this generation of players.
There is, however, a former Greek player who has provided Sakarri with all of her inspiration to play tennis. That would be her mom, Angeliki Kanellopoulou, who reached a career high ranking of No. 43 in the 1980s, but never made it past the first round in three attempts in Miami.
“I never felt like I want to break my mom’s record, not at all,” said Sakkari, 25. “I admire her for what she achieved and for the person she is, and what she has given me and my siblings all these years.
“It’s a huge thing for me having a person in my family that really felt the way I feel on court. … I’m really super proud of her and very happy, you know, that I’m her daughter.”
Sakkari, who saved six match points in her fourth-round win over American Jessica Pegula, was superlative in the first set, allowing Osaka to win only eight of the 34 points played.
In the second set, things looked to be turning around for Osaka, who took a momentary 4-1
At Tennis Center at Crandon Park Purse: $3,343,785
Surface: Hardcourt outdoor
SINGLES
MEN
Round of 16
Andrey Rublev (4), Russia, d. Marin Cilic, Croatia, 6-4, 6-4.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (2), Greece, d. Lorenzo Sonego (24), Italy, 6-2, 7-6 (2).
Quarterfinals
Jannik Sinner (21), Italy, d. Alexander Bublik (32), Kazakhstan, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
WOMEN
Quarterfinals
Maria Sakkari (23), Greece, d. Naomi Osaka (2), Japan, 6-0, 6-4.
Bianca Andreescu (8), Canada, d. Sara Sorribes Tormo, Spain, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
DOUBLES
MEN
Quarterfinals
Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic (2), Croatia, d. Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Pakistan, and Miomir Kecmanovic, Serbia, 6-2, 6-2.
Rajeev Ram, United States, and Joe Salisbury (7), Britain, d. Michael Mmoh and Sebastian Korda, United States, 7-5, 6-2.
Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski, Britain, d. Horia Tecau, Romania, and M.ArevaloGonzalez, El Salvador, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 11-9.
WOMEN
Quarterfinals
Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara (5), Japan, d. Caroline Garcia, France, and Nadia Podoroska, Argentina, 6-3, 6-2.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, U.S., and Iga Swiatek, Poland, d. Lyudmyla Kichenok, Ukraine, and J.Ostapenko, Latvia, 6-1, 6-4.
lead. But Sakkari wasn’t in a surrendering kind of mood.
“I think I lost [focus] a little bit in the beginning of the second set,” Sakkari said. “So focusing on my strategy was the key. I knew that if I can break her back, then I can serve clever and come back and win the second set, as well.”
Osaka saved the first seven break points she faced in the second set, but couldn’t work similar magic on an eighth opportunity for the Greek. At ad-out in the seventh game, Osaka could only stare at a backhand crosscourt passing shot that would end up putting the match back in Sakkari’s control.
Sakkari will play No. 8 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada, who beat 58thranked Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Both Andreescu and Sorribes Tormo were coming off three-set victories in the previous round, and they went the distance again on Wednesday in an exciting match that stretched over two and a half hours. The resurgent Andreescu started the match 0-3 but won six of the next seven games to take the first set. Sorribes Tormo, playing her best tennis this season, battled back and forced a deciding third set.
In the men’s afternoon quarterfinal, teenager Jannik Sinner of Italy, the No. 21 seed, captured a
7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win over No. 32 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. It is the second consecutive tournament that Sinner successfully challenged Bublik in a match.
“I’m happy about my performance today,” said Sinner, who was down a service break in the first set before turning the match in his own favor.
“In some ways it’s the best week I’ve had, but maybe not. It depends on how it goes.”
It is only Sinner’s third appearance in a lofty ATP Masters 1000 tournament and his first semifinal in that level event.
“You’re not a human, man,” Bublik told Sinner when they shook hands at the net. “You’re so young, you’re only 19-years-old.”
Sinner will play the winner of the quarterfinal between top seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia and No. 7 seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.