Sakkari outlasts Gauff in 3 sets of rain-delayed semi at Indian Wells. She plays Swiatek for title
Sakkari will play top-ranked Iga Swiatek in Sunday’s final. Swiatek routed Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1 to improve to 19-2 this year, with her match wins leading the WTA Tour.
Swiatek has beaten Sakkari in 3 of their 5 meetings.
There were delays of 20 minutes and 2 hours during the semifinal between third-seeded Gauff and ninth-seeded Sakkari.
Sakkari broke Gauff twice in taking a 5-2 lead in the second set. But Gauff won 4 straight games and fought off 3 match points in the 10th game to take a 6-5 lead.
Sakkari held to force the tiebreaker in which she fell behind 6-2 before Gauff won it, 7-5.
There were break points in each of the first six games of the third. After dropping serve to open the set, Sakkari twice broke Gauff and then held for a 4-1 lead. She held again to go up 5-2 and then one hour and 10 minutes after her first three match points, Sakkari hit a forehand winner to set up her fourth. She closed out the match on Gauff’s forehand error.
