Must Win games at the Women's 2023 T20 Cricket World Cup, and a big performance needed from Maria Sakkari in Qatar

The Programme is the home of authentic ideas and engaging conversations on where to watch women’s sports on tv. #GetWithIt

‍

Women's T20 World Cup 2023

In women’s cricket the T20 World Cup is well underway in South Africa, and today sees two huge matchups in the group stage.

Ireland Women will take on England in an all-UK clash in Group A, while South Africa Women will go head-to-head with New Zealand in Group B.

Ireland women were impressive in their two warm up games, with a narrow defeat against Sri Lanka followed up by a massive win against defending Champions Australia.

That should give the Irish plenty of confidence ahead of today’s matchup against England - even though the Three Lions got off to a strong start in their tournament opener, defeating the West Indies by seven wickets on Saturday.

In Group B, South Africa and New Zealand both need a big win today after suffering defeats in their opening games last week.

South Africa lost to Sri Lanka despite some impressive bowling in the first innings, while New Zealand suffered a heavy loss at the hands of Australia.

It’s a make or break game for the two nations in Group B, and you can catch both of today's matches at ESPN+.

‍

WTA Qatar Open 2023: Maria Sakkari vs. Qinwen Zheng

The WTA Qatar Open will play host to some of the biggest names in women’s tennis this week, and one of those will be Maria Sakkari, who’s STILL seeking a first WTA title since way back in 2019.

Sakkari has lost FIVE consecutive finals since then, and the World No 7 suffered another shock defeat in Linz last week, losing out to Petra Martic in the semi-finals on Saturday.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning Sakkari will dust herself off to face Qinwen Zheng in the first round of the Qatar open in Doha, and she could have her work cut out against the outperforming World No. 29.

Zheng put on a string of outstanding performances to also reach the semi final stage in Linz, serving up 10 aces against Canadian veteran Rebecca Marino, and then 15 against Liudmila Samsonova in the semis.

This will be Sakkari’s fifth main draw appearance in Doha, and she’ll be hoping for a big start to this year’s tournament.

Keep your eyes on DAZN, the Tennis Channel, and TVA Sports for all the action in Qatar.

‍

TV Guide