Maria Sakkari will play in the
WTA Finals 2nd semifinal today and speaking after her triumph against Sabalenka the Greek expressed a lot of joy.
It's been a very good conclusion to the year for Maria Sakkari who played some good tennis in the weeks leading up to the WTA Finals. That good trend continued in Guadalajara as well with the Greek reaching the semifinals of the event becoming the first Greek woman to ever do so. She battled Aryna Sabalenka for a spot in the semifinal and after beating her she said:
"Obviously my season is not finished yet, but this tournament has been very successful after today's win. I'm just very, very happy that I still show good emotions on court, I still play with my heart even though it's been 11 months since we started this season. I'm just going to enjoy tomorrow's match."
Sakkari played her first night match at the event and it took her time to adjust to the conditions. On it she said:
"I think that it was my first night match and that played a huge role in my game of how the ball really felt. I only practiced once before the tournament at night, so it was kind of new for me. I don't know, it was weird because Aryna, she's very long, she's very tall, it's tough to get serves through her. Once I got a pattern that worked well, I just kept doing what I felt was working. I just went for it."
For a place in the final she will face Anett Kontaveit and asked about that she said:
"I told her in Moscow that I'm going to see her here. I'm very glad that she's here because she's a very nice person and she
deserves it. But it all comes down to obviously who plays a better match
tomorrow. I'm going to fight for it, do whatever I can to advance to the
final. I just really want to enjoy tomorrow's match because the
atmosphere here is just unreal."