Maria Sakkari (Tennis Daily)
The Greek tennis pro – Maria Sakkari will open her US Open 2022 campaign with a tough test as she faces the experienced Tatjana Maria.
Third seed Maria Sakkari has struggled for consistency as of late. In some matches, she has looked invincible but in others, she has looked like a pale shadow of her normal self. She made it to the final of the St. Petersburg Open in February and the Indian Wells Masters in March. The 27-year-old also made it to two semifinals this year.
However, in the recently-concluded Cincinnati Masters, Sakkari lost to Caroline Garcia in the first round. Last year, Sakkari played quite well to reach the semi-final stage at Flushing Meadows before losing to eventual winner Emma Raducanu in straight sets.
The German tennis pro has also not been in great form this season. However, she turned heads with her best Grand Slam result which came at the Wimbledon Championships, when she reached the semifinals before losing to Ons Jabeur.
The 35-year-old is coming into the tournament on the back of a quarter-final run at the Granby National Bank Championships.
Tatjana Maria leads the head-to-head scoreline by a narrow 2-1 margin. They have faced each other twice in 2022. The first meeting this year came at the Australian Open where Sakkari defeated the German in straight sets. However, Tatjana Maria avenged the loss in the grass-court major, later in the year.
Prediction: Maria Sakkari to win in straight sets.
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