Do it again Tatjana

You probably shouldn’t expect much at the US Open 2022 from a German perspective this year. If there is, then the ladies could possibly make positive headlines, even if the still best German tennis player, Angelique Kerber, has to cancel her participation for the best reason of all. She is going to be a mother for the first time.

Tatjana Maria showed that one or two children are no obstacle to success on the tour when she sensationally reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon. Among others, she eliminated the Greek Maria Sakkari on her way there, whom she will now meet in the first round at Flushing Meadows. The draw probably couldn’t have been much harder for the 35-year-old German.

Since then, however, Tatjana Maria hasn’t done very much. Of course, that also applies to her 27-year-old opponent, who, however, has a lot of points to defend in Flushing Meadows after last year’s semi-final. In our opinion, the only correct bet in this first-round duel between Tatjana Maria and Maria Sakkari would be on the Greek world number

Tatjana Maria – Statistics & current form

Current world ranking: 92
Position in the seedings: unseeded

What Tatjana Maria delivered at Wimbledon this summer was unique and sensational. The fact that she made it to the semifinals at Church Road as a mother of two made headlines around the world. However, it might also have been the last big exclamation mark in her career. At 35, perhaps we shouldn’t expect too much more from her in the coming months and years.

No good results before the US Open

As is well known, no world ranking points were distributed at Wimbledon. Because Tatjana Maria was not really successful afterwards, she almost had to qualify at Flushing Meadows. Due to the withdrawal of the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the German only made it into the main draw. For that reason alone, one should rather look at the odds for a Greek victory in the duel between Tatjana Maria and Maria Sakkari.

Since the great time in Wimbledon, the 35-year-old’s form curve has shown a clear downward trend. Since her quarter-final win over Jule Niemeier, she has only managed three wins in nine matches on the tour. At the two Masters tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati, she even missed qualifying for the main draw. Before that, she had to retire in the first round in Lausanne and Washington.

At least the German managed two wins in Granby, Canada, last week, although it has to be said that it was a rather weak tournament because the top players had already finished their preparations for the US Open. So it was at least enough to reach the quarter-finals, in which, however, the Frenchwoman Diane Parry, with whom Tatjana Maria also competed in the doubles, was the finalist.

Maria Sakkari – Statistics & current form

Current world ranking: 3
Position in the seedings: 3

Somehow it is not Maria Sakkari’s year. After reaching two finals in the spring, things have not been going well at all lately. Maybe it’s because the Greek doesn’t really enjoy touring as a top player. The hype has become a bit too much for her and maybe her performance is inhibited by it.

Sakkari in search of form

Currently, the Greek is still third in the world rankings, but if she has to pull out early at Flushing Meadows, then she will almost certainly drop a few places as last year’s semi-finalist. Although she has not been particularly successful in recent weeks, the forecast in the match between Tatjana Maria and Maria Sakkari has to be for a win for the favourite.

The preparation for Wimbledon went quite well with the semi-final in Berlin, but at Church Road it was already over in the third round against her German opponent. After that, there were three heavy defeats, in San Jose in the opening match, in Toronto in the second match and in Cincinnati again in the first match. This means that the 27-year-old has won only one of her last five matches.

Things are not going well for Maria Sakkari, who has been searching for her form for three to four months. However, the three women against whom she lost recently, Shelby Rogers, Karolina Pliskova and Caroline Garcia, are also somewhat stronger than Tatjana Maria. We therefore think that the Greek could start an upward trend on Monday at Flushing Meadows.

Tatjana Maria – Maria Sakkari Direct comparison / H2H record

In total, Tatjana Maria and Maria Sakkari have faced each other in three duels. The first encounter took place in 2014 at an ITF tournament in Merida. At that time, the German had the upper hand in two sets. After that, it took eight long years before the two women faced each other again on the tour.

At the beginning of the year, this duel took place at the Australian Open in Melbourne. Maria Sakkari won 6:4 and 7:6. And then there was the encounter in the third round of Wimbledon. The Greek couldn’t cope at all with the German’s many deep slices and so Tatjana Maria won relatively confidently 6:3 and 7:5, giving her a 2-1 lead in the head-to-head match.

Tatjana Maria – Maria Sakkari tip

Tatjana Maria knows how to play against her Greek opponent The many slices of the German do not suit Maria Sakkari at all, who cannot really develop her power tennis. It is not for nothing that the 35-year-old is ahead in the direct comparison with 2:1 victories. Both women are currently searching for their form.

While Tatjana Maria at least put an exclamation mark on her form in Wimbledon by reaching the semi-finals, the world number three from Greece is still waiting for a good tournament. One win in five matches hardly meets her standards.

The mother of two from Germany is not in very good shape either and hasn’t done much after Wimbledon. That’s why we think the US Open will end early for the 35-year-old. We even expect a relatively clear affair and have decided to play the betting odds on a 2:0 win for the Greek in the match between Tatjana Maria and Maria Sakkari