Maria Sakkari cruised past Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-0 to secure her spot in the final of the Guadalajara Open AKRON.
Sakkari has not dropped a set all week. The Greek player is a win away from clinching her first title since Rabat 2019.
Sakkari made just three unforced errors in the first set. She broke Garcia in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead and dropped just two points on her serve.
Sakkari came back from 15-40 down in her opening service game of the second set to break serve for 1-0. Garcia earned three break points in the longest game of the match, as Sakkari was serving at 3-0. Sakkari saved them to hold serve for 4-0. Sakkari broke for the third game to close out the second set with a bagel. The Greek player hit eight winners to seven unforced errors and saved all four break points she faced. Garcia hit 11 winners to 20 unforced errors.
“I said it the first day that I felt like this was the week. This is the place where I was going to overcome a lot of difficult obstacles and difficult emotions. I don’t want to go back to the US Open because that’s passed, but I am just so happy to be back in the final and to get to stay until the end of the tournament. I could not have for anything better this year”, said Sakkari.
Sakkari had won just one of her previous four head-to-head matches against Garcia last February in Doha by the scoreline of 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5).
“The last match we played was one of the toughest matches in my career. My goal today was to smile, to enjoy, to come out here and have fun, because those are the emotions that I have not felt in a while. I kept telling myself if you don’t feel it here, in this amazing stadium, where are you going to feel it ? So the mission is complete, but we have one more to go. I am going to have the same goal tomorrow. I am going to come out here with a smile and enjoy my last day in Guadalajara for this season”, said Sakkari.
Sakkari set up a final agianst Caroline Dolehide, who beat Sofia Kenin 7-5 6-3. Dolehide has become only the second player outside the top 100 to reach a WTA 1000 final since Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the final in Cincinnati in 2019.
Dolehide is the third unseeded finalist at WtA 1000 level following Barbora Krejcikova in Dubai and Karolina Muchova in Cincinnati.
Dolehide went down 2-4 in the opening set, but she won three consecutive games to take a 5-4 lead. Dolehide won eight straight points from 5-5 to close out the first set 7-5.
Dolehide trailed 1-3 down in the second set, but she won five consecutive games to close out the second set 6-3. She saved three break points in the sixth game before pulling back on serve.
Dolehide fended off five break points in the final game before serving out the win on her first match point.
“After being down a break in both sets, I found what was working and I stuck with it”,said Dolehide.
Kenin made 32 unforced errors and saved one of the five break points she faced.
Sakkari has never played against Dolehide, who will play just the fifth match of her career against a top 10 player.
