French Open 2023: Eighth seed Maria Sakkari falls after surprise straight-sets loss to Karolina Muchova

Maria Sakkari was dumped out of the French Open after a disappointing straight-sets 7-6(5) 7-5 loss to the unseeded Karolina Muchova.

The Greek eighth seed raced into a 3-0 lead, winning her opening game to love before breaking Muchova in the next game and taking her next service game again without dropping a point.

From there though, things went awry.

Muchova got herself on the scoreboard after holding her next service game before breaking Sakkari’s serve and holding again to level the match.

The pair swapped service games from there until, at 5-5, Muchova broke Sakkari again. Her Greek opponent broke back immediately though, to send the first set to a tiebreaker.

Muchova raced into a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker, giving herself room for a mini-slip which saw Sakkari pull back to 5-4 and hold off one set point but the Czech took the set with a solid return.

Sakkari responded with a break in the first game of the second set but shortly after Muchova was able to get back on terms.

Muchova held her next service game before breaking Sakkari and saving two break points in the next game to move into a 3-2 lead. Both held their next two service games but at 5-4 Sakkari came dangerously close to defeat as she held off two match points before holding to make it 5-5. Muchova navigated her next game with ease to move within striking distance of victory before breaking Sakkari again to claim victory.

The Czech celebrated a famous triumph as Sakkari slumped to the upset of the tournament so far.

Muchova will face Nadia Podoroska of Argentina in the second round.

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