Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas have delivered for Greece in the decider of their Perth city finals against Croatia. After the first four games of the tie between Greece and Croatia, the two teams were tied on two wins each.
In the mixed doubles decider, Sakkari and Tsitsipas defeated Petra Martic and Borna Gojo 7-6(6) 6-4. Following their win over Croatia, Greece advanced to the United Cup semi-final. Now Sakkari and Tsitsipas head to Sydney for the United Cup celebration.
How Sakkari, Tsitsipas defeated Martic and Gojo
The first break point of the match was seen in the third game, when Sakkari and Tsitsipas missed an early break point opportunity. There were no break points again until game 11, when Sakkari and Tsitsipas missed two more break point opportunities.
Since there were no breaks in the first set, the first set had to be resolved in a tie-break. The tiebreaker was also a close contest as Martic and Gojo held a 5-4 lead before Sakkari and Tsitsipas responded by winning the next two points to take a 6-5 lead and clinch the first set point.
Sakkari and Tsitsipas missed their first set point but won the 13th point to take a 7-6 lead and win their second set point. This time, Sakkari and Tsitsipas were able to convert and thus won a tight first set.
After winning the first set, Sakkari and Tsitsipas had a break point in the second game of the second set, but again failed to convert their break point opportunities. In the tenth game, when Martic and Gojo were serving to stay in the match, the first break was seen when Sakkari and Tsitsipas broke at the key moments to complete a two-set victory.
Earlier in the day, Sakkari and Tsitsipas also delivered for Greece. In the singles matches, Sakkari defeated Martic while Tsitsipas defeated Coric. Coming off their latest mixed doubles win, Sakkari and Tsitsipas are 3-0 as a mixed doubles duo in the United Cup.
