The Number 17 seed Maria Sakkari cruised into the first US Open quarter-final of her career after halting Bianca Andreescu's 10-match winning streak in New York with a thrilling 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 upset at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday.
The titanic 3 hours and the 30-minute battle ended at 2:13 am, setting the new US Open record for the latest finish of a women's singles match. The previous record was set in 2016 by Madison Keys and Alison Riske, which ended at 1:46 am as per wtatennis.com.
Sakkari, 26, now owns nine Top 20 wins this season, including a 6-4, 6-3 dismissal of No. 10 seed Petra Kvitova in the third round. She reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in June, which remains her best showing at the majors. She's contesting the US Open with a career-best ranking of No. 18.
"I was prepared for 7-6-in-the-third, but if it comes easier, I'll take it. I knew it was going to be a very tough match," said Sakkari as per usopen.org, who overcame 43 unforced errors on the night against the 2019 champion. "She loves this court. She has her best memories here."
Former US Open finalist (2016) Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic will bring her tournament-best 58 aces into the quarterfinals against Sakkari. Their career head-to-head is deadlocked at 1-1.
( With inputs from ANI )
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