Number 1 seed Maria Sakkari battled past Elise Mertens 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 after 2 hours and 7 minutes to reach the semifinals at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Sakkari fended off three set points before closing out a tight opening set on her third set point and converted her fourth match point.
The opening set featured six breaks. Mertens earned the first break with two backhands and held two points for a double break. Sakkari saved them with her big serve and won the next three games to take a 5-4 lead.
Sakkari earned her first two set points in the 10th game. Mertens came within two points of the first set at 6-5, but she was not able to serve it out. The Belgian player did not convert her three set points in the tie-break. Sakkari won the final three points to seal the tie-break 9-7 after Mertens made unforced errors.
Sakkari raced out to a 5-0 lead with three breaks. Mertens faced a match points at 5-0, but she avoided the bagel with a return winner. Sakkari went down 0-40, as she was serving for the match for the second time. The Greek player hit a strong first serve to convert her fourth match point.
“When you are down in the score, you try to play more aggressively and she was playing really good in the last couple of games. She came up with good serves and solid shots from the baseline. I just fought hard”, said Sakkari.
Sakkari has reached her first semifinal of the year and her 10th in her last 23 tournaments dating back to Ostrava 2020.
Sakkari set up a semifinal match against Irina Camelia Begu, who beat Tereza Martincova 6-4 6-2 in 1 hour and 25 minutes to reach her biggest semifinal in over four years. Begu has reached her fourth WTA 500 level semifinal after Moscow 2014, Rome 2016 and Moscow 2017.
