Maria Sakkari battles past Potapova in St. Petersburg

Maria Sakkari won her first match in St. Petersburg but it was harder than anticipated as the native Russian put up a good fight in the 6-4 6-4 match.

Sakkari arrived in St. Petersburg hoping to capture a trophy in a very strong WTA 500 event. Despite the strong field, Sakkari is considered one of the favourites as her playstyle suits the conditions in Russia rather well. She faced an inspired native player in Potapova who put up a really good fight. The Russian opened with an early break and the 3-0 lead.

Sakkari did not waste too much time and quickly battled back to make it 4-4 and eventually broke her opponent once more to take the 5-4 lead. She closed it out with a strong service game for the 6-4 first set. Sakkari was a bit lucky to escape with that first set as the Russian player really well.

The 2nd set was a similar one but this time around it was Sakkari who played better early on taking a 2-0 lead. Potapova wasted no time and pulled the score right back to make it 2-2. The crucial moment in the match came fairly late when Potapova had break points at 4-3. She had 3 overall but failed to convert either of them.

In the next game, Sakakri broke her to take a 5-4 lead and closed it out with 6-4. Sakkari only had 3 break points but she converted two of them. Potapova had eight but only converted one and that's was the difference.