World No.6 Maria Sakkari has started her summer in style, cruising past injury-hit Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova in straight sets to give Greece the perfect start at the United Cup in Perth.
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Sakkari's 6-3 6-2 victory on Friday gave Greece an unassailable 3-0 lead in the tie after world No.4 Stefanos Tsitsipas and Despina Papamichail posted tough three-set singles wins a day earlier.
Greece ended up winning the tie 4-1, with Sakkari and Tsitsipas teaming to win the mixed doubles 6-4 6-4 against Adrian Andreev and Gergana Topalova.
Bulgaria's only success came with Dimitar Kuzmanov thrashing Michail Pervolarakis 6-1 6-1.
Tomova went blow for blow with Sakkari early in their singles match at RAC Arena.
But when Tomova tweaked her left calf with the scores locked at 3-3, the match turned on its head.
Sakkari held serve and then broke straight after the world No.90 took an injury break on the way to winning the first set in 52 minutes.
With Tomova's mobility compromised, Sakkari merely moved her opponent around the court as much as possible in the second set to seal the win in 87 minutes.
Greece are the No.1 seeds for the new mixed-teams event, and Sakkari is keen to come away with the title.
"It would be the dream if we could win this event. We represent Greece every single week but this is team Greece so it's a bit different," Sakkari said.
"It's already a huge thing that we're the No.1 seed coming from a small country and I want people to appreciate that quite a lot because what we have achieved is huge.
"We're in front of countries like the US, France, Great Britain - they have big tournaments in their countries."
Sakkari made the semi-finals at the French Open and US Open in 2021, and this year she reached the semi-finals of the season-ending WTA Finals.
The 27-year-old is eager to break through for a maiden grand slam triumph in 2023, and she's taken her fitness to a new level during the off-season in a bid to achieve her goal.
"He (my trainer) pushed me really hard and it's something I really like to do," Sakkari said.
"Going to the gym is like my hobby.
"If I'm not fit on the court, I feel like I can't play my best tennis.
"When I feel like I can move well and I can hit powerful shots, then I feel like I'm a very good and dangerous player."
Australian Associated Press
