Tatjana Maria vs Maria Sakkari Prediction: Can Sakkari avenge her last two losses?

The US Open is a festival of tennis on the soil of the United States of America that has produced high-level athletes throughout its history. Serena Williams has been an absolute champion in the first quarter of the 21st Century. This will be her last WTA tournament but certainly not last for Maria Sakkari who will face Tatjana Maria in the battle of the First Round.

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Maria has been having a rather encouraging year and at age 35, she is in the twilight of her career. She comes into the tournament after making it to the Quarter-Finals of Granby Open where she lost a three-set battle(including two tiebreakers) to Diane Parry. Maria did a fantastic job of reaching the Semi-Final of Wimbledon where she lost to Ons Jabeur in three sets. She has amped up aggressiveness in her game lately.

Maria has never been an elite player in the scene, having reached the top ranking of 46 in 2017, but has since slipped to 80s-90s ranks. The German has a 56.2% record in the Singles and except for the Semis appearance in Wimbledon this year, Maria has mostly folded in the first few rounds. She will come in with confidence but Sakkari will look to end her campaign prematurely.

Maria comes into the tournament with not that great of a rhythm. She last played during the Cincinnati Masters where Carolina Garcia, who was the eventual champion, defeated her in three sets in what turned out to be a three-set thriller(including two tiebreakers). Earlier, during Canadian Open, she lost in the Second Round to Karolina Pliskova. In her last Grand Slam Wimbledon, she lost in Third Round to Tatjana Maria, her rival in this game.

Sakkari recently admitted that being a top player has put a ton of pressure on her game and she isn’t enjoying tennis as she used to. Maria plays an aggressive style but her serve has been off lately, hovering in the 50-60% even when she continues to get a ton of Aces her way. Maria has lost to opponents ranked much lower than her at times and that seems to be the biggest concern.

Tatjana and Sakkari have met thrice and Tatajna has won two of those battles. They have met in two Grand Slams this year, with Maria winning both times during Wimbledon and the Australian Open. Sakkari last won against Tatjana way back in 2014 during Merida Open.

Sakkari has not justified her third-rank tag at all lately which makes it clear that she needs a new spark to move ahead. Tatjana has been securing a lot of big wins as of late and she comes in with a two-nil advantage against Sakkari and a much better record than her this year. But, is that all? Does that mean Tatjana will win? Is WTA betting ever secure? I don’t think so but I am willing to bet on Maria Sakkari here in a three-set affair.