Sakkari Stops 2020 Champ Swiatek’s French Open Streak in Quarter Finals

Sakkari Stops 2020 Champ Swiatek’s French Open Streak in Quarter Finals
Maria Sakkari of Greece hits a forehand during her Ladies Singles Quarter-Final match against Iga Swiatek of Poland on Day Eleven of the 2021 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris, on June 9, 2021. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
The Associated Press
6/9/2021
Updated:
6/9/2021

PARIS—Maria Sakkari ended defending champion Iga Swiatek’s 11-match and 22-set winning streaks at the French Open on Wednesday and reached the semifinals of a major tournament for the first time.

The 17th-seeded Sakkari used strong and steady baseline play to eliminate Swiatek 6–4, 6–4 at Court Philippe Chatrier in the quarterfinals and ensure that the clay-court tournament will end with a new Grand Slam champion.

“I couldn’t have done it without my team and their support and I just want to thank them and we still have a long way to go, of course,” Sakkari said, “but we made a huge step today.”

All four women remaining in the field are making their Slam semifinal debuts.

On Thursday, Sakkari plays unseeded Barbora Krejcikova, and No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova faces unseeded Tamara Zidansek.

Krejcikova advanced earlier Wednesday by beating 17-year-old Coco Gauff 7–6 (6), 6–3.

Sakkari, who is from Greece, and Krejcikova, who is from the Czech Republic, are both 25. Each has won only one tour-level title. Neither had been past the fourth round at a major until now.

And both dealt with early deficits Wednesday.

Greece's Maria Sakkari (L) and Poland's Iga Swiatek shake hands at the end of their women's singles quarter-final tennis match on Day 11 of the 2021 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on June 9, 2021. (Martin Bureau/AFP via Getty Images)
Greece's Maria Sakkari (L) and Poland's Iga Swiatek shake hands at the end of their women's singles quarter-final tennis match on Day 11 of the 2021 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on June 9, 2021. (Martin Bureau/AFP via Getty Images)

Swiatek, a 20-year-old from Poland who has looked untouchable on clay, jumped out to a 2–0 lead, but then Sakkari took over, collecting eight of 10 games. When Sakkari smacked a backhand winner down the line to close a 15-stroke point that claimed that set, she leaned over and punched the air with her right fist.

That ended Swiatek’s set streak at Roland Garros, which dated to the beginning of last year’s tournament, when she dropped only 28 games in all. She’d only lost 20 games this year through four matches.

But Sakkari, who also beat 2020 French Open runner-up Sofia Kenin, used clean strokes—accumulating 26 winners, nine more than her opponent—and a strategy of serving to Swiatek’s forehand to gain control.

Down 2–0 in the second set, Swiatek took a medical timeout and left the court with a trainer, returning with her upper right leg taped up. During the break, Sakkari tried to stay warm by hopping and skipping side-to-side behind the baseline and did not lose a beat when play resumed.

In the day’s first quarterfinal, Gauff led 3–0 at the outset, then 5–3, and held a total of five set points in the opener, but failed to convert any. Krejcikova took advantage, grabbing that set by taking the last four points of the tiebreaker. She then reeled off 15 consecutive points during one stretch en route to a 5–0 edge in the second set.

United States's Coco Gauff leaves the court after losing to Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova in their quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris on June 9, 2021. (Thibault Camus/AP Photo)
United States's Coco Gauff leaves the court after losing to Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova in their quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris on June 9, 2021. (Thibault Camus/AP Photo)

Closing out the most important victory of her singles career was not easy, though: Krejcikova needed six match points to do it, raising her arms overhead when she finally won when Gauff sent a forehand wide.

Krejcikova has won two Grand Slam doubles titles with Katerina Siniakova—and they’re into the semifinals in Paris—but is playing in only her fifth major tournament in singles.

“Everybody, they just put a label on me like, ‘Yeah, you play doubles. You are a doubles specialist.’ But I never thought I just want to be a doubles specialist,” Krejcikova said.

“So I was just working hard all the time. I just wanted to play singles. It was really, like, frustrating that I just wasn’t able to get there,“ she said. ”But I always felt ... sooner or later, I’m just going to get there.”

Look at her now. She’s ranked a career-high 33rd and on a 10-match winning streak in singles.

Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova raises her arms as she defeats United States's Coco Gauff during their quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris on June 9, 2021. (Thibault Camus/AP Photo)
Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova raises her arms as she defeats United States's Coco Gauff during their quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris on June 9, 2021. (Thibault Camus/AP Photo)

Krejcikova ended the nine-match run of the 24th-seeded Gauff, who is based in Florida and was the youngest French Open quarterfinalist since 2006. Gauff’s 41 unforced errors included seven double-faults—and after one, she mangled her racket frame by whacking it three times against the ground.

“My hitting partner told me this match will probably make me a champion in the future,” Gauff said. “I really do believe that.”

The men’s quarterfinals later Wednesday were 13-time champion Rafael Nadal vs. Diego Schwartzman, and Novak Djokovic vs. Matteo Berrettini.

Gauff vs. Krejickova began in the late morning with the temperature in the low 70s Fahrenheit (low 20s Celsius), a blue sky, and no wind.

After the number of fans in the 15,000-seat main stadium was capped at 1,000 for each of the first 10 days of the tournament because of COVID-19 restrictions, that limit was raised to 5,000 on Wednesday. And those in attendance were loudly pulling for Gauff, who burst onto the scene at Wimbledon two years ago by reaching the fourth round.

Cries of “Allez, Coco!” (“Let’s go, Coco!”) greeted her winners. Loud clapping of encouragement preceded her service games.

The contrast was striking when Krejcikova broke back on her way to pulling even at 3-all, when only a smattering of polite applause was heard.

By Samuel Petrequin