Sakkari stuns Keys to make second week
Greece’s Maria Sakkari upset world number 11 Madison Keys of the United States 6-4 6-4 to reach the last 16 of the 2020 Australian Open.
Watch LIVE GREEK TV including full GREEK SPORTS coverage with Go Greek TV!
Although the two had never played against each other before, Sakkari came into the match as the underdog. Keys, seeded tenth here and a former semifinalist, appeared to be in good form after reaching the final of Brisbane two weeks ago. Additionally, Sakkari held an 0-7 record in Grand Slam third round matches prior to today.
Nevertheless, the Greek raced out to a 5-1 lead in the opening set. She then won the set 6-4. Sakkari then took the second set by the same score, despite trailing 2-4 early on.
Sakkari has now become the first Greek woman to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open since Eleni Daniilidou in 2003. Next up for the Greek will be world number eight Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, last year’s runner-up. If Sakkari wins, she would become the first Greek woman to ever reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam in singles. Sakkari played Kvitova three times in 2019, with the Greek winning two of those three matches. The match will be played on Sunday.
Sakkari also played doubles in Melbourne, teaming up with Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic. However, the Greek-Aussie duo fell in the first round to sixth-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 7-5 6-3.
