It also marked her first win over Swiatek in five years, snapping a four-match losing streak in their WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz head-to-head. With Thursday’s result, the series is now level at 4-4.
“I’m speechless because it’s been a while since I had a big win like today,” Sakkari said in her on-court interview. “When you drop in the rankings and you’re not playing good tennis, you start doubting yourself. And you’re thinking that you’re never going to beat those players again.
“So it’s a huge process that you have to go through in your head, that you know you can do it. Last year in the second round here against (Swiatek), I was not confident. I was not believing in myself. And this year, it’s different. I feel quite a lot better.”
It’s her first win over a Top 5 player since she defeated Coco Gauff in Miami 2024. More importantly, it extends a week in which Sakkari has seemingly rediscovered the level that once carried her into and kept her inside the Top 10 for the better part of three years.
She opened the tournament with three consecutive straight-set victories over Zeynep Sonmez, No. 6 seed Jasmine Paolini and Varvara Gracheva en route to the quarterfinals before toppling Swiatek. In doing so, she dethroned the Doha queen, handing Swiatek just her third loss in 21 matches at the event in a thrilling bit of theater that unfolded over three acts.
Act 1: Same old Iga
As is often the case when Swiatek steps on court, she entered as a heavy favorite. She had beaten Sakkari four straight time -- all in straight sets -- and was coming off a Round of 16 win in which she shook off a slow start against Daria Kasatkina before dominating the final two sets, dropping just two games between them.
She continued that momentum into Thursday’s opening set. After breaking for a 3-2 lead with a forehand winner, she reeled off four straight games to take the set in just 33 minutes. It was the result of quintessential Swiatek efficiency: she won 13 of 14 first-serve points, claimed nearly half the points on return and converted both break points she earned.
Act 2: Sakkari strikes back
But Sakkari refused to fold. She surged ahead 3-0 and then 4-1 in the second set, leaning heavily on her backhand -- a weapon that would serve her well again later.
Swiatek responded by winning three straight games, punctuated by a hold to love to level at 4-all. She then earned two break points that, if converted, would’ve allowed her to serve for the match, but Sakkari saved both. She cemented the hold with a forehand winner followed by an on-target body serve on game point.
Sakkari then broke Swiatek with ease in the next game to take the second set and force a decider, marking the first time the pair had ever gone the distance in eight meetings
Act 3: Return of Sakkari
The final set delivered the evening’s peak drama. After Swiatek recovered from 0-30 to hold for 1-1, Sakkari struck first two games later, breaking for a 3-1 lead. It sparked a run of three straight breaks before Sakkari became the first to consolidate, racing ahead 5-2 to move within a game of victory.
She opened the game with a forehand winner, but Swiatek again applied pressure, earning two break points. Sakkari saved the second with a brilliant backhand pass, her first point won on second serve in the decider after starting 0-for- 5.
Swiatek mounted one last push, mirroring the one she made in the second set, and won three straight games. She held for 5-3, then broke Sakkari as she was serving for the match in a game that included a tense video review of a possible double bounce. The call eventually went Sakkari’s way, but Swiatek secured the break a few points later anyway. She then saved a match point with her best serve of the day -- an ace out wide --and held once more to level at 5-5.
But as she had shown all week, Sakkari was undeterred. She halted Swiatek's run with a hold to love for 6-5, then converted her third match point when Swiatek missed a brutal volley at the net, sealing one of the biggest wins of her career.
With the victory, Sakkari became the first player to defeat Swiatek in a WTA 1000 match after losing the opening set, dropping Swiatek’s record in such matches to 109-1. She also reached her 11th career WTA 100 semifinal, and her first since she reached the final at Indian Wells in 2024. It’s her first tour-level semifinal of any kind since Charleston 2024.
She’ll face Karolina Muchova, who defeated Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-4 Thursday, for a spot in her first final in two years -- the last coming at Indian Wells. Sakkari is 0-4 against Muchova at the WTA level, though she does own a win over the Czech from an ITF event in Sharm El Sheikh in 2016.
"I'm really happy I was able to turn that second set," Muchova said to WTA Media. "I got that break back and was able to finish in two because it's very late and tomorrow's another match.
"I watched (Sakkari's) match today against Iga, and they both played incredible. It's going to be a tough one but very happy to be in the semis".
Seems like the 2nd set concentration issues continue to be a concern for Iga. Part of that might be that she has lost a lot of her locker room aura over the past couple of years (especially after losing at Roland Garros last year and not winning a title on the clay).
She got it back at Wimbledon a little, but not quite on the hard courts.
So because her aura eroded somewhat all players have more belief that if they hang around and fight even after losing the first set they can beat Iga.
Hopefully Iga can find that mental toughness and concentration back which will in turn help get her front runner confidence back so she can close matches in straights.
I'm staying positive that she'll rediscover it again before this hard court swing is through, I'll only slightly panic if she doesn't find it on the clay in April.
Despite this loss it was nice to see her being brave and using variety with slices, dropshots and coming to the net. It's the kind of variety she had pre-Wiktorowski before she was even a top ten household name.
So really encouraging in that respect, you can see she's putting in the work it just hasn't quite clicked yet.
Contrary to what internet couch experts think it's going to take time, whether it's the serve (which is everyone's chief complaint) or anything else in her game.
Of course it's extremely hard to find time to work on improving anything while on tour so I'm still very much curious to see which tournaments Iga decides to skip.
Something tells me it won't be Dubai next week, simply because Rybakina is so close to Iga in ranking points that she might want to at least give herself a chance to defend them (I believe she reached the quarters last year).
Hell Rybakina almost became #2 today but but a defeat to young Canadian Vicky Mboko helped to delay that for the moment.
As I said during Aussie Open my best bet would be on Iga skipping Miami or possibly Indian Wells (though she has semi final points to defend). Miami would give her more time to prepare for the clay so it'd make more sense (though she's got quarterfinal points to defend as well).
Tough choice indeed, but I really hope she makes one here. It would really benefit her in the long run this year I think.
Believe in the process Iga, see you in the next tournament (where ever that will be).
Jazda!
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