Maria Sakkari back in qualifying again: Desperate for victories to stay in the top 100

Maria Sakkari has long been far from her best form and the spotlight of the tennis world. The former World No. 3 is now set to play the qualifying rounds of the WTA 500 Berlin Ladies Open, marking the second time this season she’s had to start in qualifying to enter a main draw.

The Greek currently holds a poor ranking of World No. 85 and is at risk of dropping outside the Top 100 in the coming weeks if she doesn’t secure a good number of points. Sakkari began her grass-court season this week at the Libéma Open, where she defeated local wildcard Anouk Koevermans (No. 190) in the first round, but lost in the second to Elise Mertens (No. 25) in a straightforward 3–6, 4–6 defeat.

So far in 2025, Sakkari holds a 14–17 win-loss record, though she appears to be gradually finding her rhythm again, with several victories during the clay swing—her best result being a Round of 16 appearance at the Madrid Open.

Right after Madrid, Sakkari had to play qualifying in Rome, as her ranking didn’t allow direct entry. Seeded No. 9 in the qualies, she made the main draw, then advanced to the second round after Belinda Bencic retired due to injury. However, she lost to Magda Linette (32nd seed) shortly after.

That marked her first qualifying appearance at a WTA event since 2017. Now, not at a WTA 1000, but at a WTA 500, she’ll once again have to fight from behind. Her first-round opponent in Berlin is Swiss player Rebeka Masarova, and she could face Anna Kalinskaya in the second round of qualifying.

Sakkari is urgently in need of ranking points. Last year, she lost in the first round of both Berlin and Bad Homburg, though she made some recovery by reaching the third round at Wimbledon, where she lost to former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

After the grass swing, Sakkari will have dropped about 130 points, enough to push her out of the Top 100. That means if she fails to qualify in Berlin—and doesn’t go at least a couple of rounds in the main draw—she’ll arrive at Wimbledon with the pressure of needing to reach at least the fourth round to stay afloat.

Between 2018 and 2024, Sakkari remained almost uninterruptedly in the top 30. Her best years were between 2021 and 2023, when she reached her career-high ranking of world No. 3 and stayed in the top 10 for a total of 125 weeks. The Greek player will debut this Saturday at the Steffi Graf Stadium, around 2 PM local time.