INDIAN WELLS-. Maria Sakkari defeated Coco Gauff on Friday 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 after wasting three match points in the second set of a rain-delayed semifinal and advanced to the final of the Open Indian Wells.
The Greek’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be the number one in the world, Every Swiatek, who dispatched Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1. The Pole improved her record on the year to 19-2 to lead the WTA Tour in terms of victories.
Swiatek has beaten Sakkari, ninth in the world, in three of their five duels.
Bad weather caused delays of 20 minutes and two hours in the semifinal between Gauff and Sakkari, who broke the American twice to take a 5-2 lead in the second set.
Gauff responded by winning four games in a row and overcame three match points in the 10th to take a 6-5 lead. The Greek held her own and forced a tiebreaker in which her rival took the lead with a resounding 6-2 before winning 7-5.
In each of the first six games of the third set there were break points. After losing serve at the start of the set, Sakkari broke Gauff’s serve twice to build a 4-1 lead. One hour and 10 minutes after his first three match points, Sakkari scored the fourth with a forehand winner and sealed the victory in the next game thanks to an error on his opponent’s forehand.
Swiatek won the tournament in 2022 as part of a 37-game winning streak. She had advanced to the semi-finals when Caroline Wozniacki bowed out losing 6-4, 1-0 in the quarter-finals. Swiatek has lost only 17 games in the semifinals.
Ukrainian Kostyuk hit 17 winners to Swiatek’s 14 in the match. But the Polish star was better in almost every other facet and did not face any breaking points. Swiatek got 74% of his first serves, won 83% of his first serve points and 50% of his second serve points on a cool, windy afternoon in the Southern California desert.
“It was the cleanest game I played here,” Swiatek said in an on-court interview. “I really didn’t have a moment today where I didn’t feel safe.”
In the men’s doubles final, Croatia’s Nikola Mektic and Dutchman Wesley Koolhof beat fifth-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers and Argentine Horacio Zeballos, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4). The winning couple will share $447,300.
Source: AP
