Ten titles for Greek tennis
Following Stefanos Tsitsipas’ triumph at the ATP Finals, AGONAsport looks at the ten professional titles won by Greek tennis players on the WTA and ATP tours, which include Eleni Daniilidou, Maria Sakkari, and Tsitsipas.
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ELENI DANIILIDOU
The former player from Thessaloniki, who got up to a career-high ranking of number 14 in the world back in 2003, won a total of five WTA singles titles throughout her career. Daniilidou broke through in 2002, winning her first career title at age 19 at the Ordina Open in the Netherlands. She remains the only Greek to have ever won a tour title on grass, and she did so by beating four of the top six seeded players in the event. Her run to the title included wins over three top 15 players at the time, who were multiple major winners Justine Henin of Belgium and Amelie Mauresmo of France, and two-time Olympic medalist Elena Dementieva of Russia. Daniilidou then won her second career title the following January in Auckland, and went on to defend that title in 2004 without dropping a set. Her fourth title came in Seoul in 2006, where she defeated three players who had reached the top 10 in their careers (France’s Marion Bartoli, Japan’s Ai Sugiyama, and Russia’s Vera Zvonareva). The fifth and final title of Daniilidou’s career came in Hobart in 2008, where the Greek won the title without dropping a set.
MARIA SAKKARI
Sakkari’s maiden title came in May 2019 at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Morocco. She became the first Greek player (male or female) to ever win a clay court title on tour. In the quarterfinals, she beat the defending champion Elise Mertens of Belgium in straight sets. In the final, she defeated former world number four Johanna Konta of Great Britain, who later went on to reach the quarterfinals or better at the remaining three Grand Slams of the season.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS
After losing his first two tour finals to world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain, it was third time lucky for Stefanos Tsitsipas as he won his first tour title in October 2018 in Stockholm. With this title, he became the first Greek player to ever win an indoor tournament. He later went on to win the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan a few weeks later, though that tournament doesn’t count as an official title. Tsitsipas won his second career title in February in Marseille, doing so without dropping a set. His third title came in Estoril in May, one day after Sakkari won her first career title in Morocco. Finally, Tsitsipas’ recent title at the ATP Finals in London was his fourth title, and Greece’s tenth. It is by far the most significant tournament won by any Greek player, as the other nine titles were all won at either ATP 250 events or WTA International tournaments (previously Tier III and Tier IV).
LIST OF TITLES WON BY GREEK TENNIS PLAYERS:
2002 Ordina Open, Den Bosch (Netherlands), Surface: Grass
Won by Eleni Daniilidou
2003 ASB Classic, Auckland (New Zealand), Surface: Outdoor Hard
Won by Eleni Daniilidou
2004 ASB Classic, Auckland (New Zealand), Surface: Outdoor Hard
Won by Eleni Daniilidou
2006 Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships, Seoul (South Korea), Surface: Outdoor Hard
Won by Eleni Daniilidou
2008 Moorilla Hobart International, Hobart (Australia), Surface: Outdoor Hard
Won by Eleni Daniilidou
2018 Stockholm Open, Stockholm (Sweden), Surface: Indoor Hard
Won by Stefanos Tsitsipas
2019 Open 13 Provence, Marseille (France), Surface: Indoor Hard
Won by Stefanos Tsitsipas
2019 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Rabat (Morocco), Surface: Clay
Won by Maria Sakkari
2019 Millennium Estoril Open, Estoril (Portugal), Surface: Clay
Won by Stefanos Tsitsipas
2019 Nitto ATP Finals, London (United Kingdom), Surface: Indoor Hard
Won by Stefanos Tsitsipas
