Maria Sakkari lost already in her second match at the 2023 Italian Open when she fell to an inspired Marketa Vondrousova.
At the previous WTA 1000 event in Madrid, the Greek player lost in the semifinals and she wanted to follow up on that result also in Rome. However, after beating Barbora Strycova in the second round, another opponent from the Czech Republic proved to be too good for her.
Marketa Vondrousova is the 2019 Roland Garros finalist and also the 2020 Olympic silver medalist, but she's currently ranked only 70th in the WTA Rankings. However, she can not be underestimated and she showed it also at the 2023 Italian Open.
All started well for the Czech already in the first game, breaking her opponent and establishing a lead in the match. She kept that advantage throughout the set as she had two set points in the ninth game.
However, Sakkari saved both and held her serve and even broke in the next game to level the score at five games each. Yet, that wasn't enough as Vondrousova broke again and this time finished it off on her serve, winning the first set 7-5.
The second set was very similar to the first one. The Czech player broke early on, and after saving to break points during the set, she had two match points in the ninth game.
But this time, she used her second chance to win the match 7-5, 6-3 and advance into the fourth round of the 2023 Italian Open in Rome. Up next, the Czech player will await either Anna Kalinskaya or the seventh-seeded Elena Rybakina.
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