LONDON (Reuters) – Germany’s Tatjana Maria, at 34 the oldest player left in the women’s draw, knocked fifth seed Maria Sakkari out of Wimbledon 6-3 7-5 on Friday to make the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
Ranked 103rd, the mother of two returned from maternity leave just under a year ago and rallied from 3-0 down in the deciding set to defeat Sorana Cirstea in her previous round for a first win over a top-50 player in more than two years.
Maria will next face 12th-seeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, for a place in the quarter-finals of the grasscourt major.
Greek Sakkari, who reached the French and U.S. Open semi-finals last year, made 30 unforced errors and could only convert one of her seven breakpoint opportunities.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Ed Osmond)
