Maria Sakkari fell to Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine in her second match at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday.
However, the Greek tennis star will not be able to pursue her goal of competing for an Olympic medal in this upcoming competition.
In a tense first set that Sakkari ultimately won 7-5, both players were clearly exhausted. But she was more persistent, and she eventually won the set.
The second set was even more difficult for Sakkari. Svitolina took the set with a score of 3-6 after a string of unfortunate events and errors, as well as a much stronger effort from the Ukrainian player.
The last set was a repeat performance, with the Greek champion falling 4-6. After that, Svitolina won the match in two sets.
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In the First Match of the Tokyo Olympics, Sakkari Defeated Anett Kontaveit.
Sakkari won her first match of the Olympics with a straightforward straight-sets victory over Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit on Saturday.
In a match that lasted just 92 minutes, Sakkari breezed to a 2-0 victory by taking the first set 7-5 and the second set 6-2.
The match did not start off easily for the Greek player, who is ranked 19th in the world at the moment.
She was behind 2-5, with the Estonian player appearing to have the set locked up.
But the real Spartan woman emerged and turned around the score, going from 2-5 down to 7-5 in a couple of minutes. It was the second set that Sakkari dominated, winning by an astounding 6-2 margin.
Both Tsitsipas and Sakkari Greece’s Olympic Medal Hopes Rest on Tokyo
Both singles players, the Greek tennis players will also team up for the mixed doubles competition at the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
However, after losing on Tuesday, only Tsitsipas remains in the Tokyo singles competition.
Of course, Sakkari’s time in Japan isn’t done yet, as she and Tsitsipas still have duo matches to play.
As tennis has never been widely popular in Greece, Tsitsipas has often expressed his desire to change that. In addition to being a great player in general, he may achieve this by helping his country to an Olympic medal.
Earlier this Summer, Tsitsipas reached the finals of the Grand Slam competition at Roland Garros.
Novak Djokovic won his 19th major title with a 6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 triumph over the Greek champion, who had built a huge lead and looked to be on his way to an upset victory.
After Rafael Nadal, Tsitsipas was the youngest man to reach the Roland Garros final. In 2008, the Spanish tennis great had already claimed victory.
