Written by Staff Writer Staff Writer
After the excitement of winning a maiden WTA Tour title in Montreal on Friday, Maria Sakkari of Greece is making the most of her opportunity to get one step closer to her dream of competing at the WTA Finals, scheduled to take place in Singapore in October.
Kudos to Sakkari and Greek tennis for being the first European team to win the AEGON Classic.
Sunday she advanced to the WTA Finals qualification event in Singapore on the back of finishing as runner-up at the WTA Cincinnati Open last week.
Sakkari met Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in the final, but lost 7-6(2), 6-4.
She is currently ranked 111th on the WTA Tour, while Bouchard is ranked 39th.
Bouchard has competed in all four WTA Finals and was the first player to play a full season playing in all four majors, but she failed to make it to the final in 2012, 2014 and 2015.
But things are looking up for Sakkari.
She is only the sixth Greek woman to compete in WTA Finals. Sakkari comes in a semifinal spot, thanks to her victory in the Miami Open in 2017. She reached the semi-finals in French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics this year, making her the first Greek woman to reach the semifinal of an Olympic singles event.