No.17 seed Maria Sakkari swept past last year’s finalist and No.4 seed Sofia Kenin in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 in the 4th round of the French Open 2021. With this victory, the Greek better her record at the Roland Garros as she reaches the quarterfinals for the first time in her career.

Sakkari and Kenin faced off for the fourth time with their first match dating back to 2018. 2-1 edge coming into their match, but Sakkari had won their previous battle in Abu Dhabi.

Maria Sakkari broke thrice to take the 1st set

Sakkari did not take much time to start the match on a positive note. She broke Kenin twice to take a 4-0 dominating lead. However, Kenin tried to fight back after getting one of the breaks back in the next game. Sakkari did not slow down as she broke Kenin for the third time in the match and served out the first set 6-1.

The second set was similar to the first set. Kenin failed to hold her serve for the 4th consecutive time as she was broken in the first game. Maria Sakkari continued to play flawless tennis after she broke Sofia for the 6th time to take a commanding 4-1 lead in the second set. While serving to stay in the match at 2-5, Sofia Kenin saved a match point to hold a nervous game. She got back one of the breaks while Sakkari was serving for the match at 5-3. However, the Greek came back to break Kenin again and win the set 6-3.

The serve was an important factor for Sakkari in her win against Kenin. She lost just 4 points from her first serves (21/25).

“I’m actually enjoying myself. That’s the most important thing. I’m actually not torturing myself when I’m on court”, said Sakkri to Marion Bartoli in her on-court interview.

Maria will next face the defending champion Iga Swiatek or Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinals of the French Open 2021.