By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Former Floridian Naomi Osaka regards the Miami Open as her home tournament.
Today, a ruthless Maria Sakkari served the world No. 2 a severe eviction notice.
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A sharp Sakkari snapped Osaka's 23-match winning streak sweeping a stunning 6-0, 6-4 victory to soar into her first Miami Open semifinal. It's Osaka's first loss in nearly 14 months and means she can't surpass world No. 1 Ash Barty to regain the top spot in Miami.
"I think I played a great first set for sure," Sakkari told Tennis Channel's Prakash Amritraj afterward. "I didn't make a lot of unforced errors. I just came out with a good game plan.
"To be honest, I got a little bit tight in the first two games of the second set, which is human emotion, you know that. Winning six-love against someone with probably the most wins so far this year—she's in a great form. It meant a lot to me."
Osaka showed she's human. Building a 4-1 second set lead one of the sport's premier closers couldn't seal the deal against the speedy Sakkari.
"For me, I feel a bit similar to when I lost to Coco Gauff] in Australia [2020], but I think in this match it's different," Osaka said. "Like I feel I played worse here possibly but I fought more.
"So I think I am improving in that way, because I feel like even if you're not playing great you should still find ways to win. I'm trying to find ways to do that. Hopefully I don't lose like this a couple more times, but I think the more times that stuff like this happens, the more I'll learn from it."
Supremely fit, fierce and focused, Sakkari played flawless tennis in the first set and bounced back from a break down in the second surging through the final five games in scoring the biggest win of her career.
It is Sakkari's sixth career Top 5-victory as she defeated Osaka for the second time in five meetings. Sakkari will face either another US Open champion, Bianca Andreescu, or Sara Sorribes Tormo for a spot in Saturday's final.
An unsettled Osaka suffered her first loss in 14 months since she succumbed to Sorribes Tormo on the red clay of Spain in Fed Cup defeat in February of 2020.
It was a homecoming week for Osaka, who surpassed the Miami Open third round for the first time and enjoyed a family reunion with her parents, who live in Florida. Ultimately, Osaka said she never quite found her range or rhythm.
"What can I learn from the loss? I'm not really sure right now," Osaka said. "I knew that, like, going into the match, we have played a couple of times, and I knew she's like a really big fighter, so I knew it wasn't going to be easy.
"But I'm not really sure, because I felt like I haven't been playing well this whole tournament, like I couldn't find a groove, so mentally it's really hard for me to, I don't know, like play against really high-quality players with what I feel is low-quality tennis. Yeah, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to learn from today."
A spirited Sakkari, who saved six match points with a spree of bold winners in a pulsating two hour, 38-minute comeback win over American Jessica Pegula in the round of 16, displayed strong self belief from the start and showed steely resolve when Osaka threatened to run away with the second set.
The chiseled Greek baseliner executed a shrewd game plan: hit deep down the middle early in rallies to deny Osaka access to angles, use her speed and topspin to stretch the court and terrorize the US Open champion's second serve at every opportunity. Sakkari spooked Osaka with aggressive return positioning winning 22 of 38 points played on the Japanese's second serve and converting 10 of 15 break points as the Australian Open champion served just 40 percent.
"[I was] a little bit tight in the first two games of the second set; I just believed in myself and just stayed with her and made a lot of balls and came back, broke her and held my serve," Sakkari said. "It wasn't something that felt weird. Of course she's hitting big and her serve is probably the biggest one after Serena's serve.
"I was focused on my returns and focused on choosing the right returns so I had to mix it up well and I think I did it pretty well except one game. Overall it was a pretty clever match."
Overwhelming on hard court for much of the past seven months, Osaka simply could not find the court consistently in the opening set. Osaka's toss fluttered in the stiff breeze like a piece of popcorn tossed from the top row of the Grandstand and the sweet spot of her Yonex racquet looked as large as a lifesaver. Osaka would have been wise to add some air to her shots and take the net out of play, but credit Sakkari for relentless intensity.
The world No. 2 squandered a 40-love lead in the opening game committing a double fault and a couple of errors. Sakkari stepped four feet inside the baseline, jumped on a second serve return and rattled out an error to break.
The tricky breeze blew Osaka's hair around and sent her toss askew as she missed 11 of her first 13 first serves falling into a triple break point hole in the third game. Osaka got it back to deuce, but Sakkari shrewdly lifted a lob over the Australian Open champion's head continuing her dream start with a second straight break.
A focused Sakkari fired a forehand that left the second set waving at air capping a love hold for 4-0.
Meanwhile, Osaka couldn't buy a first serve and paid a stiff price falling into another love-40 deficit. When the 23-year-old Osaka slapped a forehand into net, Sakkari scored the love break for 5-0.
Twenty-one minutes into the match, Sakkari jammed the Japanese with a serve into the left hip dispensing the first bagel set to the former No. 1 since Osaka suffered a 6-0, 6-3 setback to Sorribes Tormo on red clay in Fed Cup 14 months ago.
Sakkari won 26 of 34 points in the opening set as Osaka managed just five points after the opening game.
The second seed saved another break point, finally stopping her shutout after a half hour of play.
After a flawless start, a bit of the edge had to come off the Greek's game and it did as Sakkari double faulted and sailed a forehand gifting Osaka her first break.
Signs of life were clear as Osaka denied more break points grinding through a six-minute hold to back up the break with a shout for 3-0.
Exuding more intensity, Sakkari drove Osaka back with a deep return then blasted a backhand crosscourt breaking back in the seventh game.
Facing break point, a gutsy Sakkari snapped off a 95 mph second serve to erase it then surprised Osaka with a clean dropper eventually holding to even after eight games.
Sakkari's variety was a key component to this upset—she played some timely lobs and froze her foe with a sweet drop shot—and ultimately she simply outhit one of the most assertive baseliners on Tour. Sakkari is a challenging opponent because of her lighting-quick court coverage and the disparate spins of her strokes. Sakkari can play her forehand with heavy topspin and crack a much flatter backhand and at times it looked like Osaka was facing two different opponents.
Though she's yet to surpass the round of 16 in a Grand Slam, including a first-round loss to Kristina Mladenovic at last month's Australian Open, Sakkari has the skills to make a deep run if she can produce the consistency and variety she showed today.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka blew another 40-love lead in the ninth game as Sakkari slashed another second serve return breaking for 5-4.
Serving for the semifinals, Sakkari smacked her second ace and eventually earned match point. When Osaka sent one final backhand long, Sakkari shrieked in joy then ran over to embrace coach Tom Hill a joyous ending to a 66-minute masterclass.