Maria Sakkari has been safely through to the Charleston second round after routing wildcard Marina Stakusic 6-3 6-2 in an hour and a half of play.
The Greek, who debuted on the clay courts of Charleston in 2017, won at least a match in each of her first three campaigns at the tournament and that was also the case today. Against the 126th-ranked Canadian, the former world No. 3 made a bit of a slow start but quickly fixed that and still ended up routinely winning in two sets.
Now, a very difficult second-round task awaits Sakkari since her next opponent will be No. 3 seed Zheng Qinwen, who had a first-round bye at the tournament. It will be their fourth overall meeting and the first one in a year and a half. The Greek ended on the winning side in their 2022 Australian Open and 2023 Doha matches while Zheng was victorious in their last clash at the 2023 Zhengzhou Open.
How Sakkari beat Stakusic to set up a Zheng matchup?
The Canadian wildcard was actually the player to make the first big move after earning back-to-back breaks and opening a 3-0 lead. Down by a double break, the Greek stayed as cool as ice and responded by winning the next seven games to go 6-3 1-0.
While Stakusic managed to recover from an early break down and take a 2-1 lead in the second set, Sakkari quickly dismissed that by going on another big run and taking the next five games to complete her dominant win.
In the past, the Greek former world No. 3 had some strong runs in Charleston, most notably reaching the semifinal last year. She was also a quarterfinalist in 2019.
Sakkari is off to a strong start to Charleston and she can now hope that the confidence booster she received from ousting Stakusic will help her against Zheng.
Tennis World USA