No. 3 seed Maria Sakkari is out of the WTA 500 tournament in Linz after suffering a major collapse and fifth-seeded Dayana Yastremska taking advantage of it to book a 7-5 6-0 win and progress into the semifinal.
Through the opening four games of the match, the Greek was twice up by a break but twice lost it instantly.
With the two players tied to four games apiece, the No. 3 seed had a big chance to give herself a chance to serve out for the first set but then missed out on two consecutive break points in that game before ultimately finding herself 5-6 down.
Serving to stay in the first set, Sakkari lost her serve in the critical moment and dropped the opener.
From that moment on, the former world No. 3 totally collapsed and didn’t win a single game in the rest of the match as the Ukrainian finished the match on an eight-game winning run.
Dayana Yastremska© WTA Linz/Instagram – Fair Use
It was the second meeting between the two and the head-to-head between them stands at 1-1.
Previously, Yastremska lost to the Greek in Miami last year.
For a place in the Linz final, the fifth-seeded Ukrainian will battle against the winner of the match between No. 8 seed Clara Tauson and Anna Blinkova.
Sakkari’s rough start to 2025 continues
After going 0-2 at the United Cup, the current world No. 31 also lost in the Adelaide qualifying final round.
However, she still snuck into the Adelaide main draw as a lucky loser, where she won one match before losing to Jessica Pegula in the round-of-16.
The Australian Open didn’t bring anything different to Sakkari, who fell short to Camila Osorio in the first round.
This week, the Greek had a first-round bye in Linz before beating Viktoriya Tomova on Wednesday.
But once again, Sakkari failed to register back-to-back wins and now sits at a 3-6 record in early 2025.
Tennis World USA