Maria Sakkari continues to struggle, beaten early in Nottingham

Just like last year, Maria Sakkari opted to start her grass season in Nottingham but once again it was an early exit for the Greek who has struggled with her tennis all year long.

Maria Sakkari is not having a very good year so far with the Greek struggling greatly with her tennis. Her season didn't begin with a lot of great results as she struggled in Australia and it's been more of that throughout this year. She certainly hasn't played anywhere close to last year and even last year was a pretty poor year overall.

Her experience in Nottingham started with a solid performance in the first round as she took down a tricky opponent in two sets. It was a much-needed win for Sakkari after an early exit at Roland Garros but she didn't follow that up with a good performance. She faced giant killer Alize Cornet who made a habit of beating top-rated players while losing to some no-names.

The opening set was a horrific experience for Sakkari who couldn't hit through Cornet who defended very well. Rather quickly we saw Sakkari fall behind 0-5 narrowly avoiding a bagel but it was still a beatdown for Cornet 6-1. The second set opened with an early break for Cornet once again but this around Sakkari played much better. She had a chance to break back being up 40-0 on the serve of Cornet but wasted those chances.

Cornet then went up 4-1 with Sakkari pulling one of those breaks back. Eventually, we didn't see a comeback as Cornet held for a 6-4 second set finish even if she faced 0-30 in the final game. Sakkari simply played poorly and she was outsmarted pretty regularly in the rallies. Just a continuation of bad play by the once grand slam contender.