Sakkari and Bencic face-off for the first time on clay!
A first-round match at the 2025 Italian Open will feature Greek Maria Sakkari taking on Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic. On paper, this should be an easy victory for Bencic, who is currently ranked number 39 in the world, while her opponent is ranked 81st. However, matches are not played on paper, and that means anything can happen.
Sakkari has already played two matches in Rome, having come through the qualifiers against Chloé Paquet and Maja Chwalińska. She came through both her matches in three tough sets after dropping the first set. She hasn’t had much success past the round of 32 this year, but did make it to the round of 16 recently in Madrid after defeating the much higher-ranked Jasmine Paolini.
On the other side of the court will be the 28-year-old Bencic, who has had a decent season thus far. Her best result this year has been at the Abu Dhabi Open, where she won the title against Ashlyn Krueger in the final while taking out the one-seed Elena Rybakina in the semis.
Maria Sakkari and Belinda Bencic have faced each other twice on tour ahead of today’s match in Rome. The pair have split their previous two meetings, with Sakkari winning their first match in 2020 and Bencic taking the second in 2022. However, this will be the pair’s first meeting on clay as their previous matches came on indoor hard and grass respectively.
| Year | Event | Round | Winner | Score |
| 2020 | St. Petersburg | Quarterfinals | Maria Sakkari | 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 |
| 2022 | Berlin | Semifinal | Belinda Bencic | 6(6)-7, 6-4, 6-4 |
Currently, the Swiss is ranked much higher than her Greek opponent, but overall, the two have had relatively similar success on tour. Bencic does have a slight edge in the title count and win percentage, but Sakkari had reached as high as number 3 in the world, while Bencic’s career-best is number 4.
| Maria Sakkari | Category | Belinda Bencic |
| 81 | Ranking | 39 |
| 476-317 | Career W-L | 412-213 |
| 10-14 | YTD W-L | 21-8 |
| 2 | Career Titles | 9 |
| 0 | Grand Slams | 0 |
| 0 | YTD Titles | 1 |
Based purely on current form, there is a strong case for the Swiss to come out on top in this first-round matchup at the Italian Open. Moreover, Bencic has an all-surface type of game and has shown good results on clay, while Sakkari has also performed well on this surface.
Match Prediction: Bencic in three sets
Maria Sakkari: 7/4
Belinda Bencic: 4/9
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