Germany's Tatjana Maria, left, embraces Greece's Maria Sakkari after beating her in their women's third round singles match on day five of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Friday, July 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)Germany’s Tatjana Maria, at 34 the oldest player left in the women’s draw, knocked fifth seed Maria Sakkari out of Wimbledon 6-3 7-5 on Friday to make the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
Ranked 103rd, the mother of two returned from maternity leave just under a year ago and rallied from 3-0 down in the deciding set to defeat Sorana Cirstea in her previous round for a first win over a top-50 player in more than two years.
Hello, fourth round 👋@Maria_Tatjana stuns No.5 seed Maria Sakkari 6-3, 7-5 to advance to a Grand Slam Round of 16 for the first time#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/49RCUjWpBc
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 1, 2022
Maria will next face 12th-seeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, for a place in the quarter-finals of the grasscourt major.
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Greek Sakkari, who reached the French and U.S. Open semi-finals last year, made 30 unforced errors and could only convert one of her seven breakpoint opportunities.
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