Maria Sakkari, the No. 15 seed, will no doubt go into her match with 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams relaxed—she came back from a break down to beat the No. 3 seed less than a month ago at the Western & Southern Open.
“The fact that I played her last week is giving me, you know, confidence because now I know how she plays,” Sakkari said. “But of course, she's Serena, and I respect that 1,000 percent she's going to come up with a big game. She's going to come with a different tactic this time. I have to be ready for that.”
The Greek player is no stranger to gritting out matches. She won her maiden title in Rabat in 2019, coming back from a break down, as well. Here’s more about Williams’s tough Round-of-16 opponent.
Her mother, Angeliki Kanellopoulou, competed professionally, as well.
Kanellopoulou was ranked as high as No. 43 in the world and reached the third round of the French Open twice. She contested one final on tour, in Athens, finishing as the runner-up. Kanellopoulou has been a strong support system for Sakkari throughout her career.
“It's going to sound a little bit silly, but ever since I was a young kid I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. That's the way I was as a character. So she would be like, ‘Just go hit and enjoy it.’ It sounds very common, but that's the thing she has been telling me since I was 11 and up until today. To be honest even now, she's like, ‘Come on, and if you lose, what happens?’ ”
She’s having her best year ever at the Slams.
Sakkari lost in the third round at seven majors before finally making the Round of 16 at a Slam for the first time at the Australian Open, earlier this year. Now, she’s replicated that result at the US Open.
“I think the fact that I broke that, let's say, wall in Australia—because I was stuck for many years through the third round—it helped me a lot this time,” Sakkari said, after her third-round defeat of American teenager Amanda Anisimova. “For sure, the stress level is now 10 times lower.”
She also broke into the Top 20 for the first time this past February.
She’s not afraid of an upset.
Her game has caused trouble for more players than Williams. Sakkari has been recording wins over Top 10 players since 2017, when she beat then-No. 6 Caroline Wozniacki in Wuhan. In the ensuing three years, she also beat Karolina Pliskova, Kiki Bertens, Petra Kvitova, Aryna Sabalenka and Belinda Bencic.
