Maria Sakkari bagged her biggest WTA title at the Guadalajara Open and earned a six-figure paycheck, taking her career prize money past the $10 million mark.
Sakkari completed a perfect week in Mexico, a country she calls a second home, ending the Cinderella story of USA's Caroline Dolehide in Saturday's final. The Greek triumphed 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 45 minutes of play to win her second career title, four years on from her maiden triumph in Rabat.
Sakkari did not drop a set all week and made amends for her tearful defeat at the 2023 US Open. The 28-year-old becomes the latest WTA player to attain career prize money in eight figures, and crossing the $10 million mark. A few weeks ago Coco Gauff surpassed that total after winning her first Slam in New York.
And now Sakkari joins her in that list, where only 70 WTA players (active and retired) boast on-court earnings in excess of $10 million or more. She collected a paycheck amounting to $454,500 for her exploits in western Mexico, taking her career prize money to $10,262,923.
Her season's prize money is now past the $2 million mark and is behind Madison Keys who occupies 10th spot among the prize money leaders in 2023. Additionally, Sakkari rose three spots in the WTA rankings to sixth, and crucially she puts herself in contention to qualify for the WTA Finals.
Sakkari has successfully qualified for the season-ending championships in each of the last two seasons, and with this year's event taking place in Cancun, Mexico, she'll be determined to return back to one of her favorite countries.
Just four spots are currently up for grabs. Sakkari trails Ons Jabeur - who sits in the last slot among the elite eight - by a mere 308 points. She can bridge that gap at next week's Japan Open where the Athenian has received a performance bye in the first round.
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