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Agencies/WTA
MIAMI (Florida)
Maria Sakkari pulled off a stunning upset as she ended Naomi Osaka’s 23-match winning streak with a straight-sets victory in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open on Wednesday.
World No. 25 Sakkari raced through the opening set without dropping a game and then finished by winning five games in a row to clinch a 6-0, 6-4 win.
It is Osaka’s first defeat in over a year and ends her chances of overtaking Ashleigh Barty as world No 1 this week.
Sakkari will face either Sara Sorribes Tormo or Bianca Andreescu next, with Barty meeting Elina Svitolina in the other semi-final.
Osaka had not lost a match in over a year. Since falling 6-0, 6-3 to Sara Sorribes Tormo in last February’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers, Osaka had put together the ninth-longest unbeaten WTA Tour run since 2000, including both the US and Australian Open titles.
But Sakkari delivered an impeccable performance, striking 22 winners and coming from 0-3 down in the second set. By contrast, Osaka would commit 23 unforced errors and find only five winners.
The Greek, who had escaped six match points against Jessica Pegula in the previous round, has spoken about working on aggressive tactics while rediscovering her on-court identity in Miami. Her improvement is illustrated in her recent record against elite opposition. The result was Sakkari’s sixth Top 5 win of her career, and fourth in a row.
The opening set was astounding. Two clean return winners from Sakkari enabled her to break Osaka from 40-0 up in the first game, and the 25-year-old didn’t look back. Continuing to tee off on her opponent’s second serve, Sakkari dropped just eight points in the set, and one - a double fault - behind her own delivery.
A shellshocked Osaka was almost entirely unable to find the court, contributing 12 unforced errors in 34 points, frequently within the first shot or two of a rally.
The result was the 15th bagel set Osaka has received in her professional career, and eighth at WTA or Billie Jean King Cup level. She had won four of those matches, though, most recently overcoming Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 0-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 in the first round of Roland Garros 2019. As the second set got under way, Osaka showed resolve in attempting to repeat that.
Committing to longer rallies and finding more first serves, Osaka saved a total of six break points in her first two service games of set two, and in between broke Sakkari to take control of the scoreboard. The Osaka backhand was firing, while Sakkari’s aggressive strategy was resulting in more overpressing mistakes.
A tentative Osaka was unable to execute with her usual power. Serving at 4-4 and in control of the point, she opted to carefully steer her backhand from line to line instead of hit out on it. Sakkari duly punished this with a pinpoint lob, and went on to break by unleashing on a backhand return.
Having feasted on Osaka’s subpar 41% first serve percentage all match, Sakkari was able to close out her second win in five meetings over the former World No.1 with a minimum of fuss. She thus books her place in the third WTA 1000 semifinal of her career following Wuhan 2017 and Rome 2019.
But despite Osaka raising her game, Sakkari refused to let the set get away from her. A blitzed backhand winner enabled her to break back for 3-4 - the second key break from 40-0 down of the match - and from there Sakkari began to dominate again.
MIAMI (Florida)
Maria Sakkari pulled off a stunning upset as she ended Naomi Osaka’s 23-match winning streak with a straight-sets victory in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open on Wednesday.
World No. 25 Sakkari raced through the opening set without dropping a game and then finished by winning five games in a row to clinch a 6-0, 6-4 win.
It is Osaka’s first defeat in over a year and ends her chances of overtaking Ashleigh Barty as world No 1 this week.
Sakkari will face either Sara Sorribes Tormo or Bianca Andreescu next, with Barty meeting Elina Svitolina in the other semi-final.
Osaka had not lost a match in over a year. Since falling 6-0, 6-3 to Sara Sorribes Tormo in last February’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers, Osaka had put together the ninth-longest unbeaten WTA Tour run since 2000, including both the US and Australian Open titles.
But Sakkari delivered an impeccable performance, striking 22 winners and coming from 0-3 down in the second set. By contrast, Osaka would commit 23 unforced errors and find only five winners.
The Greek, who had escaped six match points against Jessica Pegula in the previous round, has spoken about working on aggressive tactics while rediscovering her on-court identity in Miami. Her improvement is illustrated in her recent record against elite opposition. The result was Sakkari’s sixth Top 5 win of her career, and fourth in a row.
The opening set was astounding. Two clean return winners from Sakkari enabled her to break Osaka from 40-0 up in the first game, and the 25-year-old didn’t look back. Continuing to tee off on her opponent’s second serve, Sakkari dropped just eight points in the set, and one - a double fault - behind her own delivery.
A shellshocked Osaka was almost entirely unable to find the court, contributing 12 unforced errors in 34 points, frequently within the first shot or two of a rally.
The result was the 15th bagel set Osaka has received in her professional career, and eighth at WTA or Billie Jean King Cup level. She had won four of those matches, though, most recently overcoming Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 0-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 in the first round of Roland Garros 2019. As the second set got under way, Osaka showed resolve in attempting to repeat that.
Committing to longer rallies and finding more first serves, Osaka saved a total of six break points in her first two service games of set two, and in between broke Sakkari to take control of the scoreboard. The Osaka backhand was firing, while Sakkari’s aggressive strategy was resulting in more overpressing mistakes.
A tentative Osaka was unable to execute with her usual power. Serving at 4-4 and in control of the point, she opted to carefully steer her backhand from line to line instead of hit out on it. Sakkari duly punished this with a pinpoint lob, and went on to break by unleashing on a backhand return.
Having feasted on Osaka’s subpar 41% first serve percentage all match, Sakkari was able to close out her second win in five meetings over the former World No.1 with a minimum of fuss. She thus books her place in the third WTA 1000 semifinal of her career following Wuhan 2017 and Rome 2019.
But despite Osaka raising her game, Sakkari refused to let the set get away from her. A blitzed backhand winner enabled her to break back for 3-4 - the second key break from 40-0 down of the match - and from there Sakkari began to dominate again.
