Maria stuns Venus in San Jose

LOS ANGELES: Greece’s Maria Sakkari delivered one of the biggest upsets of her career at the WTA San Jose tournament on Friday, ousting former seventime Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in a straight sets shocker.

The 23-year-old Maria saved two set points in the second set en route to a 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) victory over the former World No 1, punching her ticket to the semifinals where she will face another unseeded player, Danielle Collins.

World No 49 Maria needed one hour and 43 minutes to dispatch Venus as she has rolled through her first three matches at this event without dropping a set.

“I was ready for the match, compared to the last times I played against her. I was ready for a battle and ready to play against Venus Williams,” said Maria.

Venus, who has won this event twice in 2000 and 2002, made a whopping 43 unforced errors.

Venus’ defeat follows the shocking upset three days ago of her sister Serena, who suffered the most lopsided loss of her career, 6-1, 6-0 to Johanna Konta in round one.

American Danielle moved into the semi-finals after her opponent, former World No 1 Victoria Azarenka, retired midway through the second set due to a back injury.

Maria’s mother Angeliki Kanellopoulou was also a top 50 ranked WTA player back in the late 1980s.

Fourth-seeded Elise Mertens ended the giant-killing run of Johanna to set up the other semifinal clash with fifth-seeded Mihaela Buzarnescu.

Belgium’s Elise emerged from a tight match with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory over Johanna.

“I just played point-by-point, because anything can happen,” Elise said. “I believed in myself because it was just one break and I was really happy that I took the first set.”

Elise reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January, but she and Romania’s Mihaela will both be battling to reach a first premier level final.

Mihaela , who beat Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 7-5, fell to Elise in the final in Hobart in January.