Daria Kasatkina stuns Maria Sakkari in Madrid

Maria Sakkari once again threw away a match and this time around it was Daria Kasatkina who reaped the benefits of a Sakkari meltdown 3-6 6-3 6-1.

It started well for Sakkari who was the better player in the first part of the match. She controlled the rallies while her opponent struggled to find a rhythm. Neither served well in the first set and Kasatkina missed some good serves to try and get back into the match with a few easy points. Sakari finished the opening set with 6-3 and she looked completely comfortable.

The 2nd set opened with both players playing rather well. Neither had to face any break points early and we seemed to be heading to a tiebreak. However, towards the end of the set Sakkari started to get nervous and it became obvious in her play. She started missing and there was doubt in her shots. She gave away a game late in the set rather easily and Kasatkina was able to win the set.

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At the start of the 3rd set, Sakkari looked completely rattled and she simply could not do anything right. It's a familiar story and she's done it countless times in her career and quite a few times this season already. Kasatakina was simply there waiting for her opponent to make mistakes and Sakkari delivered. She fell behind 0-4 when she finally won a game to make it 1-4.