Maria Sakkari's Rome redemption? Former Top 3 forced to play qualifiers

Maria Sakkari begins her climb back up the rankings after a massive blow to her WTA Ranking, which has her at world No. 82. The Greek player was forced to enter the qualifying rounds of the Rome Open, where she will debut this Monday in search of a spot in the main draw.

It is the first time Sakkari will play the qualifying of a WTA 1000 since the same Italian Open in 2019, where she was the first seed of the qualifying and after reaching the main draw was one of the surprises of the tournament, eventually reaching the semifinals, falling to the 4th seed Karolina Pliskova.

At that time, Sakkari had just missed out by one spot, as she had an entry ranking of world No. 51, and by the end of the tournament, she reached her then career-high ranking of world No. 29. This time, she can look for inspiration in her 2019 performance and achieve, against all odds, a deep run that returns her to the top part of the ranking.

The Greek player has an 83-54 record in tournaments of this category, with her only title at the Guadalajara Open, in addition to three final appearances and another six in semifinals. Since then, she had remained at least in the top 30 for the following five seasons, until in 2025 she ended up falling out of the top 10.

Sakkari was in the top 10 for three consecutive years – between September 2021 and 2024 – and has since progressively fallen in the ranking. The 29-year-old has a poor 10-14 record so far this season, but comes with good feelings from the Madrid Open, where she reached the round of 16, defeating Magda Linette (29th) and Jasmine Paolini (6th) along the way. The victory against the Italian was her first against a top-10 player since she beat Coco Gauff in the semifinals of Indian Wells 2024, 14 months ago.

This Monday, Sakkari's journey will begin in Rome, where she is the 8th seed of the qualifying and will debut against Frenchwoman Chloe Paquet (No. 124), against whom she has no previous encounters. If she advances, she will face the winner between Maja Chwalińska and Yulia Starodubtseva (21st seed).