Greece’s Maria Sakkari says she is starting to find her form once again after getting off to a winning start at the WTA Finals in Texas.
The world No.5 held her nerve to edge out home player Jessica Pegula 7-6(6), 7-6(4), in a tightly contested match. Sakkari boasted a break advantage no fewer than four times in the clash but failed to capitalize on all of them. Instead, she managed to come out on top in two tiebreakers.
It is the first time this season the 27-year-old has beaten a top five player on the Tour and she now leads Pegula 4-2 in their head-to-head. In her latest match, Sakkari hit 22 winners alongside 22 unforced errors and won 66% of her first service points.
“It’s never easy against Jess,” said Sakkari.
“She’s an amazing player. She’s very confident right now. I knew it was going to be extremely tough but I fought hard and trusted my game.”
Sakkari comes into the tournament yet to win a title of any sort in 2022 but has finished runner-up on four occasions. One of those was earlier this month at the Guadalajara Open where she was denied the title by Pegula. Making her latest win even sweeter for her.
“I just turned things around last week and I’m gaining confidence,” she said. “You know, finding my form again. I think it’s good for this tournament but also for next season and I’m very excited to keep playing good tennis this week.”
Awaiting Sakkari in her next match on Wednesday will be Aryna Sabalenka who was the other victor on the opening day of the tournament. Sabalenka outlasted second seed Ons Jabeur 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-5, in a thriller.
The three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist battled back from 1-3 down in the decider to make it the 10th time this year she has won a match after losing the first set. Although it was a far from perfect display from the gutsy Belarusian whose 21 winners were cancelled out by 27 unforced errors.
“I’m just trying to enjoy every second being here, and I’m just trying to do my best and see what the last week of the season can bring,” Sabalenka said afterwards.
“I was just like, ‘Keep trying, keep fighting, and make sure that if she wants to win this match, she has to do something great, not like an easy win.’ And I think that’s why I put a little bit more pressure on her and in the key moments, I was able to win it.”
As for Jabeur, who is the first Arab player in history to qualify for the WTA Finals, her recent poor run against top 10 opposition continues. The Wimbledon and US Open finalist has now lost seven out of her last eight meetings with top 10 players.
“We’re both unpredictable. She could hit so many winners, and then miss a lot of balls, so that didn’t help me much. I should have been more concentrated on certain shots.” Said Jabeur.
“I still got a chance here, but usually it’s tough to sleep after a tough loss like this.”
One noticeable aspect of both matches at the tournament was the lack of spectators attending. This year’s event is taking place at the Dickies Arena in Texas with photos showing the stadium less than half full. At one stage for one of the doubles matches that took place, it was almost empty. Something that has triggered a surge in criticism from tennis fans of social media.
Pam Shriver, who won the WTA Finals doubles title 10 times during her career, believes the low attendance was due to a combination of factors.
“Halloween is a huge family holiday here for kids and many people stay home to give candy or take their kids trick or treating. A Texas team is in the World Series and it’s NFL Monday Night football all played tonight. Plus just two months to promote is not a lot,” Shriver wrote on social media.
After the first round of matches from Group Nancy Richey, both Sakkari and Sabalenka could qualify for the knockout stages as early as Wednesday. Sakkari will go through if she either wins her next match in straight sets or wins in three sets and Pegula wins. Sabalenka will go through as long as both she and Jabeur win their next matches.
Tuesday will see world No.1 Iga Swiatek begin her campaign against Daria Kasatkina. Meanwhile, Coco Gauff faces Caroline Garcia.
