San Jose (the US): Unseeded Maria Sakkari of Greece delivered a thrilling encore performance to her previous upset over Venus Williams to defeat Danielle Collins and reach her first WTA final at the Silicon Valley Classic tennis tournament Saturday.
Trailing by a set and facing a 4-1 deficit in the second set against Collins, Sakkari completed a shocking turnaround to beat the American 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinal. The 23-year-old will face Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu in the summit clash who stunned Elise Mertens of Belgium.
The Greek won four straight games in the second set to put pressure on Collins, and ultimately evened the match with a forehand winner.
Meanwhile, Buzarnescu rallied from a set down to beat Mertens 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to get another shot to break through for her first career WTA singles title. If she wins the title, the Romanian will rise to her new career-high ranking of World No.21 when the new WTA rankings will be released Monday.
After a back and forth opening set, Buzarnescu reeled off four games in a row during the second set to take control and never looked back. It is also to be noted that Mertens had only been broken on service twice during the tournament.
However, the Belgian called for a trainer in the final set due to a right forearm injury, and Buzarnescu won six games in a row to closer her out.
“I’m so pleased and happy to be in the final, the third final of my career,” Buzarnescu told reporters.