Gavrilova Back From Brink In San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO, TX, USA – Daria Gavrilova snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Maria Sakkari on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the San Antonio Open.
After a rocky start to the tournament, top seed Gavrilova continued to live dangerously, coming within two points of defeat against Sakkari before eventually prevailing, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.
This January, Sakkari qualified for and then reached the second round of the Australian Open, where she lost in three sets to current World No.6 Carla Suárez Navarro.
Against Gavrilova, she once again proved herself capable of competing with the WTA’s very best. However, the Greek was unable to capitalize on her opportunities – she twice came within a game of victory and held a 5-3 lead in the second set tie-break – as Gavrilova finished strongly to dash hopes of a maiden Top 50 win.
“I think the match was pretty even and in the beginning I was just missing a few more balls than her and even sometimes I was a bit too passive,” Gavrilova said. “But I was just trying really hard and wanted to prove to myself that I could come back and win that match.
“I was fighting very hard. She’s playing well and probably having the best year of her life so I knew it was going to be pretty tough and I’m happy with the result.”
Up next for Gavrilova is Alison Riske after she overcame an erratic start to knock out No.7 seed Kirsten Flipkens, 7-5, 6-1.
“I got off to a bit of a rough start and I felt like I was spraying balls kind of everywhere,” Riske said. “So I knew when I could settle down a bit and start putting balls in the court, whether that be in the first or second [set], I felt like things could turn around to my advantage. I was very happy with the way I fought and obviously how it turned out!”
In the bottom half of the draw there were wins for Samantha Crawford, Donna Vekic and Misaki Doi.
Crawford followed up her first-round upset of No.2 seed Irina-Camelia Begu with an equally impressive 6-1, 6-3 victory over Carina Witthoeft. No.6 seed Doi was pushed rather harder, edging past Han Xinyun, 7-6(5), 7-6(4), while Vekic defeated Kiki Bertens, 7-6(3), 6-3.