Maria Sakkari
Maria Sakkari is a Greek professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high singles ranking of No. 20 on 24 February 2020. Her highest WTA doubles ranking is No. 169, achieved on 9 September 2019.
Early and personal life
Sakkari was born in Athens in 1995 to former top 50 tennis player Angelikí Kanellopoúlou and Konstantinos Sakkaris. She has two siblings: brother Yannis and sister Amanda. She was introduced to tennis at age 6 and moved to Barcelona at age 18 in order to train. Growing up, her favourite players were Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.Sakkari currently resides in Monte Carlo.
Professional career
Maria Sakkari made her debut for the Greece Fed Cup team in 2012, and has a Fed Cup win-loss record of 12–18 to date.She made her Grand Slam debut at the 2015 US Open.
2016–2017: First Premier semifinal and top 10 win
Sakkari won her second match in a WTA tournament at the Istanbul Cup by defeating the top seed Anna Karolína Schmiedlová. After beating Hsieh Su-wei, she reached her first WTA quarterfinal. She reached her first WTA semifinal at the Wuhan Open by beating Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Vesnina and Alizé Cornet, losing to Caroline Garcia. This success propelled her into the top 50 of the WTA rankings.In 2017 she reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the Australian Open, and reached the same stage at Wimbledon and the US Open, where she defeated the seeded Kiki Bertens but was eliminated by Venus Williams.
2018: First WTA final and top-30 debut
Sakkari started 2018 season with four-first round losses, against Danka Kovinic in Shenzhen, Katerina Siniakova at Australian Open, Julia Gorges in St. Petersburg, and Sorana Cirstea in Doha. In Acapulco she reached her first win of the 2018 season, defeating Lara Arruabarrena in first round, but in second round she lost against Stefanie Vogele.At the Sakkari managed to beat Donna Vekic, 16th seed Ashleigh Barty and 17th seed CoCo Vandeweghe, respectively. She lost in fourth round to eventual champion Naomi Osaka. At the she defeated Aleksandra Krunic and 28th seed Anett Kontaveit and reached the third round where she lost to Monica Puig.
Sakkari started her clay-court season by reaching her first semifinal in 2018 in where she beat Cagla Buyukakcay, Aleksandra Krunic and Arantxa Rus, respectively, before losing to Polona Hercog. She then lost in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open to Kiki Bertens. Her next tournament was the Italian Open, where she avenged her Madrid exit by beating Bertens in first round, and then in second round made her second win against a top-ten player by beating Karolína Plíšková. She lost in the third round to Angelique Kerber. At the French Open, she reached third round after defeating Mandy Minella and Carla Suarez Navarro and then she completed third rounds at all of Grand Slams.
Sakkari lost all of her matches at grass-court season. She was defeated by Julia Gorges at the Birmingham Classic,Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Eastbourne International, and by Sofia Kenin at Wimbledon.
Sakkari reached her first WTA final at the beating Christina Mchale, Timea Babos, third seed Venus Williams, Danielle Collins before losing the title to Mihaela Buzarnescu. On 6 August, she reached a new career-high ranking of No. 31.
2019: First WTA title and five top-ten wins
Sakkari won her first WTA title in Rabat, defeating Johanna Konta in the final.Sakkari qualified for the Premier-5 Italian Open in Rome, reaching the semifinals, but lost to the eventual champion Karolína Plíšková.
Performance timelines
P = postponedOnly main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
Singles
Current through the suspension of the 2020 WTA Tour.Notes
- The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009–2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The two tournaments have since alternated status every year.
- 2011: WTA Ranking–702,
2013: WTA Ranking–610,
2014: WTA Ranking–301.
WTA career finals
Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | 2018 Silicon Valley Classic – Singles| | Silicon Valley Classic, Unites States | Premier | Hard |  Mihaela Buzărnescu | 1–6, 0–6 |
| Win | 1–1 | 2019 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem – Singles| | Morocco Open, Morocco | International | Clay |  Johanna Konta | 2–6, 6–4, 6–1 |
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 17 (7 titles, 10 runner–ups)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Sep 2011 | ITF Athens, Greece | 10,000 | Clay |  Deniz Khazaniuk | 6–1, 3–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 0–2 | Sep 2012 | ITF Antalya, Turkey | 10,000 | Hard | Ana Bogdan | 3–6, 2–6 |
| Loss | 0–3 | Sep 2013 | ITF Mytilini, Greece | 10,000 | Hard |  Klaartje Liebens | 1–6, 2–6 |
| Loss | 0–4 | Sep 2013 | ITF Athens, Greece | 10,000 | Hard |  Aminat Kushkova | 0–6, 5–7 |
| Loss | 0–5 | Apr 2014 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard |  Pernilla Mendesová | 2–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 1–5 | Apr 2014 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard |  Despina Papamichail | 6–1, 1–6, 6–3 |
| Loss | 1–6 | May 2014 | ITF Båstad, Sweden | 10,000 | Clay |  Conny Perrin | 5–7, 1–6 |
| Win | 2–6 | May 2014 | ITF Båstad, Sweden | 10,000 | Clay |  Carolin Daniels | 7–5, 6–2 |
| Win | 3–6 | Jun 2014 | ITF Niš, Serbia | 10,000 | Clay |  Dea Herdželaš | 3–6, 6–4, 6–1 |
| Loss | 3–7 | Jun 2014 | ITF Toruń, Poland | 25,000 | Clay | Barbora Krejčíková | 4–6, 1–6 |
| Win | 4–7 | 2014 Tampere Open – Women's Singles| | ITF Tampere, Finland | 10,000 | Clay | Anastasia Pivovarova | 6–4, 7–5 |
| Loss | 4–8 | Aug 2014 | ITF Savitaipale, Finland | 10,000 | Clay |  Emma Laine | 3–6, 7–5, 0–6 |
| Win | 5–8 | Mar 2015 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard | Anastasiya Komardina | 6–4, 6–3 |
| Win | 6–8 | Mar 2015 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard | Valentini Grammatikopoulou | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Win | 7–8 | May 2015 | ITF Maribor, Slovenia | 25,000 | Clay |  Rebecca Peterson | 3–6, 6–2, 6–2 |
| Loss | 7–9 | 2016 Open Engie Saint-Gaudens Midi-Pyrénées – Singles| | ITF Saint-Gaudens, France | 50,000+H | Clay | Irina Khromacheva | 6–1, 6–7, 1–6 |
| Loss | 7–10 | 2016 Naturtex Women's Open – Singles| | ITF Szeged, Hungary | 50,000 | Clay |  Viktoriya Tomova | 6–4, 0–6, 4–6 |
Doubles: 9 (5 titles, 4 runner–ups)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Sep 2013 | ITF Athens, Greece | 10,000 | Hard |  Lee Pei-chi | Keren Shlomo Saray Sterenbach | 6–3, 1–6, |
| Loss | 0–2 | Apr 2014 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard | Despina Papamichail | Natela Dzalamidze Valentini Grammatikopoulou | 7–6, 3–6, |
| Win | 1–2 | ITF Båstad, Sweden | 10,000 | Clay | Kim Grajdek | Dea Herdželaš Conny Perrin | 7–5, 6–4 | |
| Win | 2–2 | Jun 2014 | ITF Niš, Serbia | 10,000 | Clay |  Alexandra Nancarrow |  Lina Gjorcheska  Marina Lazić | 6–3, 6–0 |
| Win | 3–2 | 2014 Tampere Open – Women's Doubles| | ITF Tampere, Finland | 10,000 | Clay | Alexandra Nancarrow | Emma Laine Anastasia Pivovarova | 6–2, 6–3 |
| Loss | 3–3 | Aug 2014 | ITF Savitaipale, Finland | 10,000 | Clay | Alexandra Nancarrow | Emma Laine  Diana Bogoliy | 4–6, 6–7 |
| Win | 4–3 | Sep 2014 | ITF Madrid, Spain | 10,000 | Hard |  Inés Ferrer Suárez | Yvonne Cavallé Reimers Lucía Cervera Vázquez | |
| Loss | 4–4 | Aug 2015 | ITF Bad Saulgau, Germany | 25,000 | Clay | Despina Papamichail | Cristina Dinu Diana Buzean | 6–2, 3–6, |
| Win | 5–4 | 2015 Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge – Singles| | ITF Dubai, UAE | 75,000 | Hard |  Çağla Büyükakçay | Elise Mertens İpek Soylu | 7–6, 6–4 |