Maria Sakkari of Greece brought world number two Naomi Osaka’s 23-match winning streak to a halt. Sakkari edged past Osaka in stunning fashion in the Miami Open quarterfinals, drubbing her 6-0, 6-4 in just 69 minutes.
Osaka remained unbeaten for more than one year, sweeping last year’s US Open and this year’s Australian Open. However, it was a different ball game this time in the quarterfinal clash against Sakkari. Osaka didn’t seem to have an answer to Sakkari onslaught.
It was a great contest between the two with Sakkari displaying an impeccable performance, striking 22 winners and coming from 0-3 down in the second set. On the other hand, Osaka committed 23 unforced errors and struck only five winners.
“I don’t think it was the best tennis I have ever played in my life,” said Sakkari. “I think I executed our strategy really well. I just did what I had to do. I’m not going to tell you what. What we discussed before the match, I just did it most of the match, except maybe a couple of games where things didn’t go right.”
Sakkari will next take on eighth seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada, who dropped serve eight times but still outlasted unseeded Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
