Guadalajara Open Akron Round-Up: Nightmare return for Maria Sakkari, bageled in opener

Maria Sakkari suffered a painful first-round defeat at the WTA 500 Guadalajara Open Akron, losing to France’s Elsa Jacquemot 6-2, 6-0. The Greek player was returning to Guadalajara, the very place where she won the second title of her career back in 2023 when the tournament was a WTA 1000.

However, she could not replicate her great campaign in her return to the Mexican city. Ranked as world No. 55, Sakkari was looking to earn points to get back into the top spots on a court that has favored her in the past. The match started on Monday, but rain forced a suspension with the score at 4-1 in favor of the French player.

Down two breaks, Sakkari returned to the court on Tuesday night with the mission of turning the match around against a player ranked No. 83. However, the match was completely dominated by the Frenchwoman, who won 8 of the 9 games played on Tuesday, sealing the 6-2, 6-0 victory. Sakkari was clearly out of form after a decent US Open campaign, and her North American season is now over.

Overall, Sakkari had a first-serve percentage of just 65% and won only 51% of those points, well below her opponent, who had an 80% first-serve percentage and won 78% of those points. Sakkari did not earn a single break point throughout the match, while Jacquemot converted 5 of the 12 opportunities granted by her opponent. The 22-year-old Frenchwoman is guaranteed to reach a new career-high ranking of world No. 70, making her the No. 2 French player behind Lois Boisson. She will face the top seed, Elise Mertens, in the second round.

Sakkari, 30, had reached the third round at Flushing Meadows—beating Tatjana Maria and Anna Bondar—but was eliminated in the third round by the 18th-seeded Brazilian, Beatriz Haddad Maia. The Greek player had been on an upswing with several wins on the Tour after months of adverse results, rising from No. 92 to No. 55 in recent months. However, her upward momentum could not continue this week, and she will have to wait for her return to try to be a contender again in the final part of the season.

Sakkari opted to play in Guadalajara this week instead of participating in the first week of the Asian swing. Her return will be in two weeks at the WTA 1000 China Open. We should note that an injury forced Sakkari to end her 2024 season after the US Open, so she won’t have any points to defend for the rest of the season.

While elsewhere on Tuesday, wildcard Storm Sanders from Australia saw off Katerina Siniakova 7-6, 4-6, 6-3. There were also wins for Camila Osorio as she took down Kamilla Rakhimova fairly comfortably 7-5, 7-5. Emiliana Arango joined her with a 6-0 win over Magda Linette.

It was also double success for the Canadians as Rebecca Marino and Marina Stakusic managed to seal wins. Marino saw off Martina Trevisan 6-2, 6-3 while Stakusic saw off Polina Kudermetova 6-3, 5-7, 4-6. Tatjana Maria was the other victor seeing off Zeynep Sonmez to seal her spot. The sixth seed is up and running in Mexico.