"I want to dedicate this win to Greece" says Sakkari after taking down Pliskova

Maria Sakkari is playing the best tennis of her career at US Open and the Greek player is looking very hard to spot. Her latest victim was Karolina Pliskova whom she defeated in straight sets to advance to the US Open semifinal. It's the 2nd major semifinal for her this season after the Roland Garros and after the match she said:

"I want to dedicate this win to Greece because we struggled a lot last month with some fire damages. So for me winning for Greece, making Greek people proud and happy, especially in difficult times, it makes me even more happy because you know how much I love my country."

Sakkari defeated a bunch of very tough players en route to the semifinal and she admitted as much saying:

"After reaching my first Grand Slam semifinal at the French, I felt like I can do it again. It was not luck because I beat all these good players. Now I think I had one of the toughest draws, to be deadly honest. Kostyuk, Siniakova, Kvitova, Andreescu, Pliskova, all these players are players I don't want to play in the first rounds."

Her next opponent will be British teenager Emma Raducanu who is looking equally impressive as Sakkari at this event. Asked about facing her she said:

"She's a new player on tour so I don't know much about her Obviously she's having the tournament of her life. She deserves to be here. She has won all these matches."