Indian Wells: Iga Swiatek and Maria Sakkari are going on their last date

<p>In a rain-shortened Indian Wells semifinal on Friday, Maria Sakkari overcame a determined comeback from Coco Gauff to upset the third seed 6-4 6-7(5) 6-2 and set up a thrilling repeat of the 2022 championship match against Iga Swiatek.</p>
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<p>After a brief rain delay, Sakkari took the lead early in the match by breaking US Open winner Gauff in the ninth game. She then easily won the first set. Gauff didn’t seem her best.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the second set, the players had to leave the court for a longer period of time due to the return of the showers, but Sakkari started up where she left off and strengthened her hold on the match with a double break.</p>
<p>However, Gauff was far from finished. In the fast-paced second set, she found her groove again and saved three match chances to equal the score at 5-5. She then forced a tiebreak, which she won to force a deciding.</p>
<p>After trading breaks with Gauff early in the third set, Sakkari, the ninth seed, rallied and proved her worth in the crucial moments to win the late-night thriller.</p>
<p>Sakkari said, “I don’t want to disrespect Coco, but it would have been amazing if this match was over an hour ago,” after the thrilling two hours and forty-one-minute fight.</p>
<p>first place Earlier, in cold, windy circumstances, Swiatek put on an almost faultless performance to easily defeat Marta Kostyuk 6-2 6-1 and stay on course for her second victory of the year.</p>
<p>“I’m very pleased with the performance. It was perhaps the cleanest match I’ve ever played here. The whole time, the attention was intense.</p>