A CONFIDENT Maria Sakkari has bolted into her second consecutive Western & Southern Open quarter finals appearance after coming back from a set and a break down to stun third seed and tournament favourite, Serena Williams. The Greek star and 13th seed looked almost down and out after trailing 7-5 5-3 and her opponent was serving for the match. Having won three of the first four games in the second set, Sakkari had started promisingly, but four straight games to the American suddenly had her one foot in the final eight.

From there though, Sakkari forced her way back in, breaking back and then forcing a second set tiebreaker. Williams led 4-1, before seemingly looking a little resistant from her power game, as Sakkari took control and won six of the next seven points to take out the tiebreaker 7-5. Sensing the momentum had changed, Sakkari smashed her way to a 5-0 lead in the deciding set, before eventually winning, 5-7 7-6 6-1.

“”I haven’t realized it yet,” Sakkari said post-match. “It feels pretty good, because she has been a role model for me growing up, and obviously what she has achieved is huge. “So it feels very nice.”

Sakkari said her ability to hold on in the second set and grind out to level the match, then serve well in the third set was key.

“I think the key point was, of course, winning the second set, but then serving the way I did first game of the third set was just like a turning point for me, because it gave me a lot of confidence going into the third set.”

Williams blamed herself for the loss.

“It was tough,” she said. “I literally should have won that match. “There was no excuse. “It was hard, but I had so many opportunities to win, and I have to figure that one out, like how to start winning those matches again. “There is really no excuses, to be honest.

“I started cramping, but I shouldn’t have been in that situation. “I don’t think that helps mentally when it’s like, you know the match is over and you have won the match, and now your legs were already tired and now they are even more tired, and now it’s even more tired.

“I literally put myself in this situation. “You know, it’s like dating a guy that you know sucks. That’s literally what I keep doing out here. “It’s like I have got to get rid of this guy. It just makes no sense. It’s frustrating.”

With Williams out early for the second consecutive tournament, it raises question marks about her ability to win at the US Open – the same location as her loss today – even without some of the world’s best in attendance. Meanwhile for Sakkari, she moves onto the quarter finals where she will face an in-form Johanna Konta who turned around her disappointing return at Top Seed Open to record back-to-back wins in New York. She defeated Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-4 6-2.

In other quarter finals matches, the match of the day has to be fourth seed and now new tournament favourite, Naomi Osaka up against 12th seed Anett Kontaveit. Osaka destroyed 16th seed Dayana Yastremska in 70 minutes 6-3 6-1, while Kontaveit only needed nine more minutes to see off Marie Bouzkova 6-3 6-3. Ons Jabeur‘s form in the United States continued with another rout, this time over Christina McHale 6-3 6-0, bouncing into the quarter finals to face Victoria Azarenka. She became the sole Belarusian into the final eight after Jessica Pegula upset fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka in three sets, with the American to now take on 14th seed Elise Mertens in the other quarter final.

WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN WTA TOUR RESULTS:

[13] Maria Sakkari (GRE) defeated [3] Serena Williams (USA) 5-7 7-6 6-1
[4] Naomi Osaka (JPN) defeated [16] Dayana Yastremska (UKR) 6-3 6-1
Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated [5] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 6-2 2-6 6-3
[8] Johanna Konta (GBR) defeated Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 6-4 6-2
[12] Anett Kontaveit (EST) defeated Marie Bouzkova (CZE) 6-3 6-3
[14] Elise Mertens (BEL) defeated Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) 6-2 6-3
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) defeated Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-4 7-5
Ons Jabeur (TUN) defeated Christina McHale (USA) 6-3 6-0

Picture: Ben Soloman