Greece’s Maria Sakkari breaks into Top 20 WTA Rankings

Greece’s young tennis star Maria Sakkari has reached a new career-high WTA ranking of number 20 in the world, becoming just the second Greek female tennis player to ever break into the top 20.

The 24-year-old from Athens had a previous career-high ranking of 21 in the world, achieved earlier this month on February 3. Sakkari is now the second Greek to reach the top 20 of the WTA rankings, as Eleni Daniilidou also did so, peaking at number 14 in 2003.

Sakkari currently has 2,085 ranking points. These include her points from the four Grand Slams (240 from the Australian Open, 70 from the French Open, 130 from Wimbledon and 130 from the US Open), her points from the four Premier Mandatory events (10 from Indian Wells, 35 from Miami, 10 from Madrid and 0 from Beijing, which she missed due to injury), points from her two best Premier 5 tournaments (380 from Rome and 190 from Cincinnati), and points from her best six other tournaments (280 from Rabat, 185 from San Jose, 185 from Saint Petersburg, 100 from Charleston, 80 from Zhuhai, and 60 from Nottingham).

Sakkari’s next three tournaments will all give her opportunities to rise even more in the rankings. She will play the Premier 5 event in Doha, followed by the Premier Mandatory events of Indian Wells and Miami. She is not defending any points in Doha, and she lost in the first round of Indian Wells and the second round of Miami last year. This year, Sakkari will be seeded at both of those tournaments, thus earning a first-round bye. Sakkari’s 100 points from Charleston last year will fall off after Miami, but should she not achieve a better result in Doha, her 55 points from Adelaide will replace the lost points from Charleston.

On the other hand, some of Sakkari’s competitors will be defending a lot of ranking points during these tournaments. Spain’s Garbine Muguruza (world number 16) and the Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova (world number 18) both have over 400 points to defend from these events, and could each fall out of the top 20 should they see early exits. As a result, Sakkari could potentially continue her ascent up the rankings regardless of her own results.

CURRENT WTA RANKINGS:

1. Ashleigh Barty (Australia) - 8,367 points
2. Simona Halep (Romania) - 6,076 points
3. Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) - 5,200 points
4. Bianca Andreescu (Canada) - 4,665 points
5. Sofia Kenin (United States) - 4,490 points
6. Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) - 4,335 points
7. Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) - 4,301 points
8. Serena Williams (United States) - 3,915 points
9. Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) - 3,875 points
10. Naomi Osaka (Japan) - 3,625 points

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20. MARIA SAKKARI (GREECE) - 2,085 points

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