Karolina Pliskova seemingly gave Maria Sakkari a bit of a cold handshake after a little drama in the third set of their Indian Wells round-of-16 match. In the eighth game of the third set, Pliskova felt that Sakkari’s racket touched one of the balls that went out of the court.
But the chair umpire did not see it and Sakkari denied that the ball ever touched her racket. The point was awarded to Sakkari.
A little drama in the Karolina Pliskova vs Maria Sakkari Indian Wells match
From what I can see, it looks like Maria’s racquet touched the ball & the point should’ve been awarded to Karolina.
I still don’t understand why tennis doesn’t use video replay for stuff like this..
pic.twitter.com/e1kKWalf7b — The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) March 14, 2023
In the end, Pliskova did manage to win that game and cut Sakkari’s lead to 5-3 but the Greek served out for a 6-4 5-7 6-3 win in the following game.
Sakkari survives, 2h45, into the QFs in Indian Wells. No look handshake from Pliskova, who thinks Maria cheated later in the 3rd. Kaja says Sakkari touched a ball at the net, umpire didn’t see, Maria denies it pic.twitter.com/yVcTwgwFiG — José Morgado (@josemorgado) March 14, 2023
How Sakkari beat Pliskova?
Sakkari got off to a fast start to the match, earning…
