It's been an arduous journey for Maria Sakkari against Jessica Pegula as her tennis level was not very good. The Greek player looked very solid early on, enjoying a lot of support from the local Greek community. Sakkari has been lauded as a potential dark horse to win the event, but she strumbled when presented with the superior power that Pegula had.
She admitted her struggle with the American:
“A disappointing performance today. The conditions were very fast. Jess was playing, like, extremely fast. I didn't have any answers.
And it looked very much like that on the court. Pegula was just able to bombard away from the baseline and Sakkari was simply left stunned most of the time. The Greek was very frustrated with herself as she understand that her level was nowhere near her best which she expressed after the match:
"I really tried my best, but my game was not even close to, like, 60, 70%. It was just disappointing. And it still is.”
It's a defeat that will linger for a while with Sakkari but the Greek will have to shake it off and focus on future events. She is more than capable of doing so.