Defending champion Iga Swiatek knocked out of French Open after losing in quarterfinal to Maria Sakkari

Defending champion Iga Swiatek was knocked out of the quarterfinal of French Open 2021 after she lost to Greece player Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-4 at Court Philippe Chatrier on Wednesday.

Swiatek’s 22-set winning streak at the French Open was over when Sakkari won the first set.

The defending champion lost the opening set of her quarterfinal match against the 17th seed of this year’s Roland Garros 6-4.

Swiatek had won 14 consecutive sets last year at Roland Garros and her first four matches this year were straight-set victories.

The Polish tennis ace suffered an early break to go 0-2 down in the second set from which she never recovered as Sakkari drove home with the advantage to win the second set 6-4 and seal a spot in the semi-final.

Swiatek had required a medical time out in the second set which indicated that she might not have been at her 100%.

Sakkari will face unseeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic for a place in the final after seeing off Swiatek.

Thursday’s other semi-final sees Russian 31st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova tackle unseeded Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia.

For only the second time in the Open era, there are four first-time Grand Slam semi-finalists in women’s singles, after the 1978 Australian Open.

(with agency inputs)