World number 29 Maria Sakkari will be up against the 112th-ranked Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round of the 2025 WTA Qatar Open which will be played on Sunday, February 9. Get all the Maria Sakkari v Elena-Gabriela Ruse predictions, betting tips and odds for this encounter in the section below.
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Maria Sakkari v Elena-Gabriela Ruse Head to Head
Their only previous meeting came in the 2015 Bucharest Open qualifiers and Sakkari had won that clay court encounter in straight sets.
Sakkari a Two-Time Semifinalist Here
Maria Sakkari has seen better times on a tennis court. Those were times when she was ranked third in the world and had made the semifinals at this tournament in Doha on a couple of occasions.
It’s not to say that Sakkari has completely fallen off the charts – she is still a top 30 player – but the fact still is her results have shown a continuous deterioration.
And this has been on show this season again with her win-loss record reading 2-5 at the moment.
She started off with back to back defeats at the United Cup which also played a part in Greece getting knocked out early and then as a lucky loser in Adelaide she made the second round.
An opening round defeat at the Australian Open would have made those question-marks appear again before she won a round at Linz before going down to Dayana Yastremska in the second
Can she turn things around here?
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Ruse Hoping to Build Back Her Performances Too
Elena-Gabriela Ruse was forced to feature in the qualifiers to make it to the main draw here and while Taylor Townsend took her to three sets, she was able to overpower Daria Saville in straight sets to make the first round.
That makes it her first time in the main draw in Qatar after having made two previous attempts and lost in the qualifiers.
Ruse enters the tournament having done reasonably well at the Australian Open where she was involved in another set of qualifiers. She won those three rounds there before coming off with a straight-set win against Irina Begu in the opener.
It took the eventual champion Madison Keys to end her campaign.
Here she takes on a player who might not be feeling the most confident and Ruse will believe she could remain in the hunt.
Sakkari v Ruse Prediction
It’s no surprise that despite the vast difference in their rankings, Sakkari is only a 3/5 favourite. It has to do with her loss of form and confidence in recent times and while you expect her to still win this, Ruse has shown this season she can deliver the goods. Can she do that against a top-30 player though?
Sakkari v Ruse Tips
- Sakkari to win: 3/5
- Over 20.5 games in the match: 5/6
