Indian Wells finalist Maria Sakkari joins Stefanos Tsitsipas in historic milestone for Greek tennis
Maria Sakkari is now the joint highest ranked Greek singles player ever, man or woman, matching compatriot Stefanos Tsitsipas for the accolade after her Indian Wells run.
Despite losing in the final to Iga Swiatek, Sakkari’s results at the WTA 1000 event see her up to third in the world rankings, three higher than her previous career-high of sixth.
This makes her the first Greek woman ever to be within the WTA top 5 for singles and just the second on either the WTA or ATP tours after Tsitsipas first breached the men’s top three in August.
Sakkari is clearly excited about the achievement, showing as much on her Instagram story.
Looking ahead from Indian Wells to the Miami Open, Sakkari is seeded fourth at the WTA 1000 event in Florida and will face either Nuria Parrizas Diaz or Beatriz Haddad Maia in the second round after receiving a first round bye.
Sakkari was impressive in Miami last year, defeating Naomi Osaka in the quarter-finals before falling to Bianca Andreescu in the semis.
The 26-year-old has gone from strength to strength since, climbing up from 25th in the world just prior to that tournament and reaching the semi-finals of both Roland Garros and the US Open in 2021.
Surprisingly, Sakkari has risen to number three in the world with just one career tour level title to her name, coming all the way back in May 2019 in Rabat, Morocco.
She will be looking to add to that tally in 2022 having reached two finals so far in the new year and recording a win-loss record of 16-5 to date.
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