BNP Paribas Open: Three sets a charm again for Maria Sakkari in Indian Wells win over Petra Kvitova

Maria Sakkari proved again Wednesday evening that she’s willing to go deep into a match to get a victory at the BNP Paribas Open.

For the fourth consecutive match, Sakkari had to play three full sets to earn a victory. This time, Sakkari, the No. 7 seed in the women’s draw, turned a tight match into a dominating win over No. 15 seed Petra Kvitova, winning 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 on Stadium Court.

"It is strange, but at the same time, I'm just telling myself, look, you're not playing your best tennis and you're still winning and beating amazing players," Sakkari said of her three-set victories in the last two weeks. "I mean, my draw was, I would say, bloody tough.

"You know, by just surviving and just finding ways, eventually I'm sure that my game is going to get better," she added. "I really want to see how it's going to be when I start feeling good with my game."

Taking advantage of Kvitova’s erratic serving and her own variety of ground strokes and timely drop shots, Sakkari moved into the semifinals of the women’s draw, when she will face No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalena.

Sakkari, looking for a return to the BNP Paribas Open final for the second year in a row, stumbled out of the gate Wednesday against Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion. But a Sakkari rally in the second set preceded a rout in the final set for the Greek star. After the match, Sakkari said it was one of the best comebacks in her career.

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“Not only I was down a set and a break, but she made me play like an amateur in the first set,” Sakkari said. “She was playing so good. I had to try and focus on different things. I had to look at the other side of the net and see what I do better, to put her in an uncomfortable position.”

Play in the first set was ragged at times, with Sakkari having her serve broken twice and Kvitova being broken once, with all three breaks coming at love. Even in the set-clinching game, Kvitova served two aces followed by two double faults to fall back to deuce before winning the final two points.

The second set started as a mirror image of the first set, with Sakkari being broken in the first game at love and Kvitova racing to a 3-1 lead. But Sakkari steadied herself, earning a break back in the sixth game of the set to level the score at 3-3 and held her own serve for a 4-3 lead. The set stayed on serve until, leading 6-4, Sakkari rallied from love-30 to break Kvitova and take the second set.

Sakkari said her own serve needed to improve to have a chance at the comeback.

"I was struggling, you know, to find the right toss, and I was struggling to find the right, well, I was not accurate with my spots," she said. "But eventually when I started feeling better, then everything just started improving on the court."

After that, Sakkari controlled the play, breaking Kvitova for a 3-1 lead again for a 5-1 lead in cruising to the victory in 2:15.

While Sakkari used an improving serve in her comeback, Kvitova can blame her loss in part on her own serve. That included just four aces and 12 double faults.

As for her semifinal matchup against Sabalenka, Sakkari isn’t putting much faith in the fact she has beaten Sabalenka in their last two meetings. Those were both before Sabalenka won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

“She is a different player from when I played her the last time,” Sakkari said. “She just won a Grand Slam. She is so confident.”

Sakkari has now won her last 11 hard-court quarterfinals in a row, and 19 of the 22 she's played.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: Maria Sakkari rallies again to beat Petra Kvitova