Sakkari looks like herself again; beats No. 2 Navarro in Washington
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Maria Sakkari hit the sweet spot of her career in 2022 and 2023, finishing as year-end No. 6 in the PIF WTA Rankings.
This year, though, has been something of a slog. The 29-year-old from Greece has a losing record and her ranking has drifted down to No. 90.
Maybe it’s the heat and humidity, or something else in the atmosphere, but whatever it is Sakkari seems to thrive in the nation’s capital. In her only previous visit, two years ago, she rolled all the way to the final, beating Leylah Fernandez, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula in the process.
On Wednesday night, No. 2 seed Emma Navarro was added to her list of victims. Sakkari scored a 7-5, 7-6 (1) win over Navarro to advance to the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Sakkari, who received a wild card into the main draw, has now won three of four career matches against the 24-year-old American.
She’ll play the winner of Thursday’s highly anticipated match between Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu on Friday.
It turns out that Sakkari does have a special connection with the area. While she maintains homes in Greece and Monaco, Washington is probably the next in line. Her boyfriend went to Georgetown University graduate school and works in the city.
She often trains on the Georgetown campus, so she requested 10 tickets for the match, including one for the Georgetown tennis coach. Her goal for the tournament? To last long enough to celebrate her 30th birthday. Mission accomplished.
“So now I’m actually going to spend my birthday on Friday here.,” Sakkari told reporters. “Hopefully with a win, but I’m just excited that I can be home and just feel how -- because I don’t have a tournament at home in Greece -- just experience the whole, how can I say, atmosphere around playing at your adopted home.”
Navarro is ranked 79 spots higher than Sakkari, but she could never get it going.
Energized and bouncing around like it was 2022, Sakkari saved all three of the break points against her. And while she converted only one -- in the last game of the first set -- it was enough.
Sakkari served well, winning 60 of 85, and had seven aces -- two in the tiebreak.
Even before her heyday, Sakkari could hang with the best. In 2021, she posted a WTA Tour-high nine wins against Top 10 players.
This year, it’s been difficult; before beating Navarro, Sakkari had lost 11 of 13 matches to seeded players in 2025.
Now, she’s looking for a slice of history, trying to emulate the feats of Paula Badosa (2024) and Nadia Petrova (20112), who won the title here as wild cards.