Washington Open: Sakkari stuns second seed Navarro

Greek wildcard Maria Sakkari advanced to the last 8 of the Washington Open by winning against American Emma Navarro, the second seed, 7-5, 7-6 (1) at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on Wednesday night.

This is the first time since the Linz tournament in January 2025 that Maria Sakkari has reached this stage of a competition on the WTA Tour. A finalist in Washington in 2023 during her only previous appearance, the Greek player now has five wins and just one loss at the American tournament.

Thanks to this strong week in the capital, Maria Sakkari is already guaranteed to climb 18 spots in the WTA rankings, moving her up to a projected No. 72 in the world — her best ranking since March 2025.

Maria Sakkari has not dropped serve once, saving three break points along the way. She finished the match with 31 winners, including 7 aces, and dominated the second-set tiebreak, winning it 7 points to 1.

Sakkari, ranked No 90, will face the winner of the match between Englishwoman Emma Raducanu and Japanese wildcard Naomi Osaka next.

In the previous round of the Washington tournament, the Greek defeated Englishwoman Katie Boulter (6-3, 6-4).

Washington WTA 500, other second-round results (William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, hard, USD 1.282.951, most recent results first):

• Venus Williams vs. Magdalena Frech
• Jessica Pegula vs. Leylah Fernandez
• Taylor Townsend vs. Sofia Kenin
• Emma Raducanu vs. Naomi Osaka
• Elena Rybakina vs. Victoria Mboko
• Clara Tauson (4) beat Caroline Dolehide (Q): 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
• Anna Kalinskaya beat Magda Linette (8): 6-4, 6-0