“Very proud of myself”: Maria Sakkari expresses satisfaction after Guadalajara Open triumph

Greece’s tennis star Maria Sakkari has revealed that she is very proud of her performance in the recently concluded WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open.

The 28-year-old defeated America’s Caroline Dolehide in straight sets in the final with a score of 7-5, 6-3 to lift her second WTA title.

Sakkari was quoted in a report recent where she expressed that she is proud of her recent performances, especially after the US Open debacle.

“I'm just very proud of myself,” she said. “Being like that at the US Open, wanting to take a break, & then finding the joy again during the week. It's a big title, my biggest title, it means so much.

“But over everything, it's just pure happiness & pure joy. I play tennis for a living. That's pretty cool. I didn't give myself a chance to enjoy it in the past. I told myself, you owe it to yourself to have fun.

“And this is what happened this week. I only had one goal this week: just to be happy. If you watched a couple of my matches, you saw me smiling more than usual on the court. That was my goal.

“I was just very happy that I could do it because that was the key for me to get myself back and feel good on the court and feel happy and appreciate what I do.”

The victory was a special one as Sakkari was knocked out of the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year after losing the Rebeka Masarova of Spain in the first round in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-4.

Even before that, the Athens-born was having a hard time in competing at the highest level as she failed to qualify in the fourth round or beyond in any of the Grand Slams this year.