Advertisement

Maria Sakkari in fiery warning to rival amid Australian Open clash

The No.6 seed was left fuming at her rival during her round 2 match.

riley morgan
Sports Reporter
·2-min read
No.6 seed Maria Sakkari (pictured left) angry and (pictured right) the chair umpire speaking to Sakkari.
No.6 seed Maria Sakkari (pictured left) called out her rival for her celebrations and warned the chair umpire (pictured right) over the actions during a fiery Australian Open clash. (Images: Channel Nine)

No.6 seed Maria Sakkari has warned her rival and the chair umpire she won't allow her opponent to celebrate in her face during a fiery round 2 encounter at the Australian Open. Russian player Diana Shnaider stunned the No.6 seed to take the first set on John Cain Arena with a display of ruthless power hitting.

Sakkari was clearly rattled and was staring down the barrel of an early exit in Melbourne with scores sitting at 5-5 in the second. However, Shnaider appeared to light a fire inside of Sakkari as one of her celebrations irked the 27-year-old.

BRUTAL: Aus Open rocked by more chaos as organisers left scrambling

UNUSUAL: Djokovic caught in bizarre umpire moment at Aus Open

SAD: Kokkinakis match rocked by 'disgraceful' act at Aus Open

"If she screams one more time in my face, I'm going to call the referee," Sakkari said with her finger pointed. Sakkari wasn't taking no for an answer as she approached the chair umpire to get her point across.

Her rival's alleged actions only seemed to strengthen the 27-year-old Greek as she took the next two games to level the match.

The No.6 seed was showing all her passion on the court after missing a chance to break in the third set and repeatedly slamming her racquet into her boot.

Sakkari was pushed all the way, but her experience showed after closing out the deciding set 6-3 to advance to the third round.

Maria Sakkari advances in Aus Open battle

Shnaider is a member of the women's team at North Carolina State, the same university that produced Michael Jordan, and the 18-year-old at times bossed Sakkari round the court like the basketball legend did to his rivals for so many years.

"It was a very high level from both of us. She played an amazing match. She's very young, very promising, Maybe she should look at not going to college," Sakkari said.

"She had me running behind the baseline chasing balls and that's not usually my game. But I tried to find solutions. It's very difficult to play someone you have never played before, seen before on tour."

In-form American Jessica Pegula advanced to the third round not long after Sakkari with a strong performance against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

with AAP

Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.