Tatjana Maria comes from behind and beats Maria Sakkari
Maria’s next opponent is the 12th seed, Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion who advanced following her 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu.
Britain’s Heather Watson, 30, had also failed to reach the fourth round in a grand slam tournament, but she did so on Friday in her 12th appearance at the All England Club after beating Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Watson will face Germany’s Jule Niemeir, who won 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 against Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.
France’s Caroline Garcia, who defeated 10th-seeded Emma Raducanu of Britain in the second round, beat China’s Shuai Zhang 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).
Garcia will face Czech Marie Bouzkova, who eliminated 28th-seeded Alison Riske 6-2, 6-3.
The third seed, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, also advanced to the next round by defeating France’s Diane Parry 6-2, 6-3.
The Tunisian will face the 24th seed, the Belgian Elise Mertens, who eliminated 6-4, 7-5 the Wimbledon champion in 2018, the German Angelique Kerber.
Tatjana Maria experienced a shock at Wimbledon when Maria Sakkari came close to going up 5-1 in the second set of the third-round match.
Then Tatjana Maria quickly recovered from the adverse course that this partial presented at that time for her.
The 34-year-old German won the next three points and made it 4-2; then repelled five consecutive games and defeated the greek Sakkari, fifth seed, 6-3, 7-5 at the All England Club.
Maria, world number 103, reached the fourth round of a grand slam competition for the first time in her 35th participation in a major tournament.
“It was incredible,” Maria said. “I think I played a good game from the beginning to the end.”
Maria’s previous best appearance in a grand slam tournament was at Wimbledon in 2015, when she also reached the third round.
