Sakkari rallies against Konta in Rabat for maiden WTA trophy

In Rabat, Maria Sakkari emerged victorious in the final of the Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse against Johanna Konta, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, to claim her maiden career WTA title on Saturday.

Sakkari was trailing a set and a break before summoning her coach Tom Hill for some encouragement.

"Right now [Johanna] is in the situation where, you know, we gonna have to make her hit winners to close this out," Hill advised his charge. "I want you to be so resilient and so tough to make her play."

That's all the 23-year-old Greek needed to hear because after that pep talk, she reeled off 10 of the final 11 games to pull off a fearless comeback. It was her second career final—she fell to Mihaela Buzarnescu in the 2018 San Jose championship match.

Konta was aiming to capture her first trophy since winning the 2017 Miami Open, her biggest career title. Before entering the Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse, the 27-year-old Briton had never won more than two consecutive WTA clay-court matches in a main draw.