Sakkari Green With Envy At Charleston Open — And It Goes Beyond Winning

Maria Sakkari, Charleston Open
Maria Sakkari (photo: Charleston Tennis LLC)

CHARLESTON, S.C./WASHINGTON, April 4, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

Greece’s Maria Sakkari made a successful transition from hard courts to clay by winning her first match on green clay at the Credit One Charleston Open, a 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 74 Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria, Tuesday afternoon. Despite the windy conditions that prevailed during the one-hour, 20-minute second-round match on the enclosed Credit One Stadium court, the No. 3 seed Sakkari was in a good mood to talk about her 13th victory of the season afterward.

“It was my first match on clay, first match in five years here in Charleston and on the green clay,” the World No. 7 Sakkari said in her on-court interview. “I’m super excited to be back, just as you guys are. I love it here so much.”

Sakkari, who expressed a love of the local cuisine as well as the Southern hospitality of the tournament hosts and fans, finished with 25 winners, including a nifty sixth-shot forehand winner on match point. The Greek No. 1 converted four of eight break points and outpointed Tomova 69-48. It was Sakkari’s fifth win in six matches this season against opponents ranked outside the Top 50.

“It’s always tricky, the transition from hard courts to clay,” admitted Sakkari, whose latest Adidas tennis kit matched the same color palette of the Charleston green clay.

“That first match is always going to be tricky. It wasn’t perfect tennis but I’ll take [the win] and enjoy my time here.”

During the recent North American spring hard-court swing in Indian Wells and Miami, Sakkari went 8-2, which included reaching the final in the California desert and the quarterfinals in south Florida.

Thursday evening, Sakkari will face 135th-ranked Australian lucky loser Astra Sharma, who upset No. 16 seed Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, 6-4, 6-0, in 76 minutes, in the third round.

Magic things happening to Cristian in Charleston 

Magic things do sometimes happen in Charleston and Jaqueline Cristian is making the most of her first time in the Lowcountry. After beating 132nd-ranked American qualifier Sachia Vickery in the opening round, the 83rd-ranked Romanian pulled off her the second Top-20 victory of her career with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 over World No. 18 Madison Keys of the United States.

The two-hour, two-minute match wrapped up at 10:58 p.m. Tuesday night after Cristian secured the win on her second match point against the 2019 Charleston champion.

Cristian, whose career-high ranking peaked at No. 58, hit 21 winners, made just 14 unforced errors, converted six of 15 break points and outpointed the eighth-seeded Keys, who was appearing in just her third tournament of the season, 88-83. The win improved Cristian’s 2024 main-draw win-loss record to 6-5 and advanced her to Thursday’s third round against No. 10 seed Emma Navarro of the United States. Keys fell to 3-3.

“Thank you, thank you guys so much for staying and cheering for me,” Cristian said in her on-court interview. “I heard some Romanian [spoken] here, thank you. This night was really magic for me. I think I played really, really good. I was expecting – obviously – a very tough match. I’m really happy I stayed positive and I was listening to my team a lot.”

Trailing after the first set, Cristian turned things around against Keys, who beat her in straight sets at the 2022 Australian Open in their only previous meeting. Asked how she managed to rally against the American No. 3, Cristian said: “Obviously, she’s a great player, so my mind was set for a fight. I just wanted to focus most of the match on my serve and the plan I had with my team. 

“I just wanted to stay in there, dig in, and show my best.”

Around the Credit One Charleston Open

Wednesday’s play started six and one-half hours late due to steady rain, which fell over LTP Daniel Island all morning and well into the afternoon. Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, the 2011 Charleston champion, and Ukraine’s No. 15 seed Anhelina Kalinina, whose second-round match on Credit One Stadium was originally scheduled at 11 a.m., finally walked out on court at 5:30 p.m. and played their first point at 5:45 p.m. Their match was the first of three scheduled on the main court.

Like she did two weeks ago at the Miami Open, Kalinina beat Wozniacki, 6-2, 6-3, in an hour and 20 minutes. She hit 23 winners to 11 for Wozniacki, won 70 percent of her service points, converted five of 11 break-point chances and outpointed her opponent 65-42.

“I’m really happy [with the win], it’s my first match on clay,” the 33rd-ranked Kalinina said in her on-court interview. “It’s my first match I’ve won on this court. … Today I played pretty solid.”

Over on Althea Gibson Court, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto started their match at 5:53 p.m., the first of four matches scheduled on the second show court. In just 70 minutes, the 12th seed Azarenka scored an easy 6-1, 6-2 win, putting away the victory after hitting a fifth-shot forehand winner. She converted five of seven break points and outpointed her opponent 57-35.

The order of play for Wednesday initially called for a total of 12 singles matches and three doubles matches spread over three courts. By late afternoon, the schedule had been reduced to eight singles and one doubles matches across four courts because of the rain delay.

The original night session doubleheader, featuring defending champion and No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia against American Danielle Collins followed by 2016 Charleston champion Sloane Stephens of the United States versus Canada’s 14th seed Leylah Fernandez, was cancelled – rescheduled to Thursday morning – and replaced by two matches originally scheduled for the Wednesday day session: No. 10 seed and local favorite Emma Navarro versus 110th-ranked qualifier Katie Volynets in an all-American battle followed by Charleston native Shelby Rogers against 2021 Charleston champion and No. 9 seed Veronika Kudermetova of Russia.

First, No. 20 Navarro collected her 21st victory of the season by defeating 110th-ranked Volynets, 6-1, 6-1, in 69 minutes on her fourth match point, a solid second-shot backhand winner. It was one of 20 winners she struck. She won 74 percent of her service points – dropping just three points on her first serve – did not face any break posts and broke Volynets five times. She outpointed her opponent 65-37. Navarro’s homecoming win took place with her parents, a brother and her grandmother, visiting from Connecticut, all in attendance.

“There’s nowhere like Charleston,” Navarro said in a post-match conversation with Tennis Channel. “It probably would be my favorite city in the world if it wasn’t home. It’s especially great to win at home. I’m really happy to be back. It’s my first win on that court. It feels really special. I’m happy to be moving on.”

Later, Kudermetova fought last Rogers, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in one hour and 52 minutes, by hitting 23 winners and outpointing her opponent 74-65.

Following Azarenka-Cocciaretto on Althea Gibson Court were matches featuring a trio of seeded players: No. 4 Daria Kasatkina and No. 6 Ekaterina Alexandrova, both from Russia, and No. 5 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil.

The 11th-ranked Kasatkina went the distance to beat No. 73 Ashlyn Krueger of the United States, 6-3, 0-6, 6-1, in an hour and 48 minutes. She overcame eight double faults to win 71 percent of her second-serve return points. She broke Krueger five times and outpointed her 79-77. Next, Kasatkina will play Kalinina.

Alexandrova was upset by No. 68 Taylor Townsend of the United States, 7-5, 6-2, in an hour and 37 minutes, while Haddad Maia beat No. 47 Caroline Dolehide of the United States, 6-2, 7-5, in one hour and 40 minutes, which finished after midnight and was moved onto the Stadium Court.

One match on Court 3 remained: No. 16 seed Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine versus Astra Sharma of Australia, won by Sharma in straight sets.

A first-round doubles match between Magda Linette of Poland and China’s Zhang Shuai against Brazilian Ingrid Gamarra Martin and Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia was moved to Court 4. Linette, who is already through to the third round in singles, and Zhang defeated Gamarra Martin and Mihalikova, 6-1,6-2, in one hour.

Thursday’s order of play now includes four second-round and eight third-round singles matches and four doubles quarterfinals, spread across four courts at LTP Daniel Island beginning at 11 a.m. local time. The four second-round winners will have to return later in the day to play their third-round matches.

Wednesday’s Credit One Charleston Open results

Thursday’s Credit One Charleston Open order of play

By the numbers

Before her second-round loss Wednesday, Caroline Wozniacki had reached at least the quarterfinals in her previous six Charleston appearances. She was crowned champion in 2011 and has reached two other Charleston finals, in 2009 and 2019.

“Quotable …”

“As we kept playing, it seemed the balls and everything got a lot heavier because we didn’t change the balls. Then, going into the tie-break, it was a little bit different, and I think you’re e trying to scrape out a few ugly points sometimes because you’re not getting a lot of free points with the balls.

“So, I think during the tie-break, it was just trying to not get upset, not getting too negative if something went wrong. I just kind of played every single point. I think for me, especially with how well she returns, I really wanted to focus on my serve, especially in the third, and not let her get too many chances, which I did a good job of.”

— Top seed Jessica Pegula, during her post-match news conference, after defeating Amanda Anisimova, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

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