Maria Sakkari beats Diana Shnaider 3-6 7-5 6-3 in R2 at the Australian Open

Maria Sakkari of Greece had enough experience to get the better of Diana Shnaider of Russia

Greek sixth seed Maria Sakkari avoided a shock as she fought back to beat Russian teenager Diana Shnaider in the Australian Open second round.

Shnaider, 18, is still to join the professional ranks as she plays in the American college system, but threatened an upset by winning the first set.

But Sakkari regrouped to win 3-6 7-5 6-3, taking her third match point.

I hope Shnaider is really proud of the match she played against the #6 player in the world, and a STRONG one at that. 18 years old and in college, Sakkari said it herself, maybe she should drop out and play pro full time said Sakkari in the on-court interview after the game.

“There were moments in the match where I thought I was gonna lose, but then my belief somehow woke me up. I found ways to come back and to close out this match, because it wasn’t easy. “She was playing with nothing to lose, she was playing very, very good.”

The Greek 6th seed into round 3 of the Aussie Open

Sakkari will next face Swiss Jill Teichmann or China’s Lin Zhu.