Maria Sakkari had another tough match but once again the Greek survived beating Arantxa Rus 3-6 6-2 6-3 to move on in Parma.
Similar to yesterday, Sakkari had a fairly slow start unable to find her rhythm that well. Rus is a known player on the Tour as she plays a very hard-hitting style that is very hard to counter when the Dutch player hits it well. She did early in this match and Sakkari struggled which was expected.
The Dutch player secured the first set 6-3 in her favour behind some really strong serving. Sakkari was unable to produce a lot of good returns and it ended up being a problem for her as Rus had easy balls to hit winners. Things changed in the second set as Rus was unable to serve as well and Sakkari found a much better rhythm.
The product of that was a set where Sakkari thoroughly outplayed her opponent taking it 6-2. The final set was one where Sakkari finally found her serve and it made things a lot easier for her. Rus stabilized a bit in this set but she was still outplayed early by Sakkari who took an early 3-1 lead.
The Greek was forced to save break points some time after that but she was able to save it and remain in lead. In the end, Sakkari confirmed the win with a 6-3 second set finish to move on.