Maria Sakkari vs. Elena Rybakina 3/17/22 - WTA Indian Wells, USA Women Singles Picks & Predictions
Last Updated: 03/16/2022 at 11:39 PM ET
Greek tennis player Maria Sakkari has made it into the quarterfinals at the 2020 WTA Indian Wells Open in the United States. At this stage of the competition, Maria Sakkari is set to play against Elena Rybakina.
Elena Rybakina enters this match having won her previous match in straight sets. It was a strong performance by Elena Rybakina as she was able to win 90% of her service games while only having her serve broken on 3 occasions. It has been a good season for Elena Rybakina but following a huge year in 2021, she has not reached the levels she would have been expecting at this stage of 2022. This tournament is well positioned for Elena Rybakina so we should see a determined player in this match.
On the other side of the tennis court, Maria Sakkari has been challenging for big tournament titles for the past few years. Sakkari is the number 6 seed in this tournament and made it into this match following a walk-over victory in the previous round. In her last full match, Maria Sakkari defeated Petra Kvitova. The win over Kvitova was an impressive performance by Maria Sakkari as she only lost 3 games in the entire match. Maria Sakkari has been in outstanding touch as she made the semifinals at the Qatar Open and the final at the St Petersburg Open. With all that in mind, Sakkari will be tough to stop at this tournament.
Elena Rybakina and Maria Sakkari have played each other once in the past. The match was played in 2020 at WTA St Petersburg where Elena Rybakina won in 3 sets.
Looking at the information available, I am going to predict that Maria Sakkari wins this match. Sakkari is the stronger player and she has been in outstanding touch leading into this tournament. I see Maria Sakkari being good enough to win this match in straight sets.
