Sakkari's stellar performance over Giorgi puts her in the Quarterfinal spotlight

Maria Sakkari delivered an excellent performance as she defeated Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-2, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open.

The Italian has had an inconsistent season, marred by several injuries that have disrupted her continuity. Nevertheless, she had already achieved her best result of the season in Mexico, where she was crowned champion in February at the WTA 250 Merida Open.

This week, she secured two convincing victories over Mayar Sherif (33rd) and Cristina Bucsa (87th), both in straight sets.

With a 3-0 head-to-head record in favor of Sakkari (9th), who also entered the tournament as the second seed, the Greek player was the favorite in the match. Furthermore, she had notched a solid win in the opening round against Storm Hunter (157th) in her second-round debut.

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Sakkari demonstrated her class from the outset, claiming two consecutive break points and quickly taking a 5-0 lead against Giorgi, who was imprecise and committed several unforced errors. The Italian managed to hold her serve and then broke back, injecting some suspense into the set.

However, she surrendered a break point to her opponent with a double fault on set point, and Sakkari emerged with an advantage after just 36 minutes of play. The former world No. 3 was nearly flawless with her service, hitting 74% of her first serves and winning 76% of those points, compared to Giorgi's 55% first-serve accuracy and a win rate of only 50%.

In the second set, Giorgi confirmed that she was raising her level and sought to pressure her opponent by shortening the points with deep shots, which worked as she took an early 2-0 lead.

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However, the strong forehands were not sustainable for the Italian, who began to make errors, while Sakkari, without much aggression, attempted to keep the ball in play and play more patiently, winning most of the longer rallies.

The Greek staged a strong comeback in the set, securing six consecutive games as Giorgi struggled with her service inconsistency, ultimately closing out the match with a score of 6-2, 6-2.

In the quarterfinals, she will face the Colombian surprise, Emiliana Arango (170th), who eliminated Anastasia Potapova (26th), Sloane Stephens (38th), and Taylor Townsend (101st) in her first appearance in a WTA 1000 main draw.

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R16 | Estadio AKRON Maria Sakkari 🇬🇷 def. Camila Giorgi 🇮🇹 6-2, 6-2 #GDLOpenAKRONxSantander | @WTA

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