'Maria Magic' – ‘Charged’ Maria Sakkari blasts past an inspired Angelique Kerber in the United Cup as she sets her eyes on the Australian Open

The Greek raced past former World No. 1 Angelique Kerber with a dominant straight-set triumph to provide Greece with a 1-0 win over Germany in the United Cup. Sakkari downed the German pro in merely 73 minutes to register her second career win over the latter. 

With this victory, the 28-year-old promptly slammed the door on the four-time Grand Slam champion, sending social media into a frenzy. It is worth noting that Maria Sakkari hardly broke a sweat during her performance in the first group tie against Daniela Seguel but was later put through a tougher test in her second-round face-off against Leylah Fernandez.

Sakkari-led team Greece also witnessed the clash between Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas and Germany’s Alexander Zverev where the latter downed Tsitsipas to set up a doubles tiebreaker clash.

Maria Sakkari’s 2023 season recap

Greek tennis professional Maria Sakkari has enjoyed a decent 2023 season; however, the 28-year-old failed to move past the first round in all four Grand Slams of the year.

Sakkari was subjected to first-round defeat in the season’s opener, the Australian Open which was later followed by a commendable semifinal appearance at the Linz Open.

The Greek also managed to secure a semifinal spot in the Qatar Open as well as the Indian Wells Masters. However, the World No. 8 experienced a disappointing run during her Miami Open and Stuttgart Open run.

The season’s first clay-court ATP 1000 Masters event, the Madrid Open, saw the Greek finish strong after she successfully managed to sail into the semifinal round, where she was downed with an unfortunate defeat at the hands of Aryna Sabalenka. 

Nonetheless, similar results failed to prevail for Sakkari after she lost in the opening round of the French Open. The remaining part of Sakkari’s 2023 season did not witness any head-turning results, having lost in the first round of almost every WTA event.