"It's very normal, actually, to get a little bit tight and a little bit stressed": Maria Sakkari felt pressure and nerves in finally beating Iga Swiatek

Maria Sakkari sealed one of her best wins in a long time as the Greek who is a former World No.2 but now sits at World No.52 reached the semi-finals of the Qatar Open after seeing off Iga Swiatek 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Now Sakkari faces off against Karolina Muchova for a spot in the Qatar Open final with the other half seeing Victoria Mboko face Jelena Ostapenko in a big chance realistically for all four. Muchova and Sakkari have had their hardships with form loss and injury, Ostapenko always has a demon run out of somewhere and Mboko is one of the best talents on the WTA Tour right now.

But Sakkari in going into facing Swiatek was on a four match losing streak to her and she became the first to defeat her from a set down at a WTA 1000 tournament. She believed though all the way.

“You're always the underdog with playing against the No. 2 in the world, especially where I'm coming from,” said Sakkari post match as per tennis.com. “But I kept telling myself, even after the first set, that I was playing good tennis, and that I had to stick to my game plan and the way I was playing. I was aggressive, I was brave, and it worked out really well.”

“I honestly don't feel like I was playing bad in that first. I was unlucky with that net cord in the 2-All game. It was going to be 3-2 up for me. I know it's a small detail, but with those players it's one or two points per set that can really change everything. It's different going 3-2 up than 3-2 down a break.”

Part of her rise back to prominence amid good form in the Middle East, Sakkari has brought back Tom Hill who went to join Peyton Stearns for a time after Sakkari searched like many do for more form and titles amid always being a bit of a nearly woman. But when it didn't work Hill was brought back.

“I kept telling myself that I'm playing good,” Sakkari said. “Tom kept reminding that I was playing really well. Just kept doing the same thing. I feel like you have to be very aggressive, but at the same time very solid with those players, and it worked out really well today.”

But there was a double bounce controversy, she was serving for the match at 5-3 and invoked the video review system to determine a double bounce.

“It's great that we have it, because imagine if we didn't have it today,” Sakkari said. “I feel like it's, you know, it's very tough also for the umpire to see because you don't know how they put the racquet. And they're not, you know, robots, they're human beings, and they can lose the balance with their vision. It's the first time I've used it, and I'm happy that it exists.”

"Sometimes maybe you're confused. I'm not saying that she knew or anything, of course, but sometimes I feel like you know. But you can also, you know, be a little bit, ‘I'm not so sure, I'm unsure about how the bounce was.’”

But while she had that issue, she did tighten up missing multiple match points but she said that it shows she is human and it is a fact of life that she does get tight at the end.

“I'm not the first and I'm not the last that is going to be in that position. A lot of times I tell that to myself that, you know, it's something that happens every day on a tennis tournament. And it really calms me down, because I know I'm not abnormal, just losing a break in that third set. It's very normal, actually, to get a little bit tight and a little bit stressed, especially when I haven't witnessed those moments in a long time, and haven't had the chance to close out matches like the one today.

“I'm just very happy that I managed to overcome myself in those last two games and come up with some great tennis, and some brave tennis, I would say.”