Does Emma make the Brits happy?

There are still a few British ladies in the running at Wimbledon and Katie Boulter should perhaps have the best chance of going far at Church Road. However, the favorite child of white sport in the UK is another young lady and we take a look at how she fares in the third round in our Emma Raducanu vs Maria Sakkari prediction

With her triumph at the 2021 US Open, the young Brit played her way into the hearts of the fans as she battled her way through qualifying and ultimately won the title without losing a single set or even a tiebreak. No other qualifier before her has achieved this in the entire Open Era. Emma Raducanu was the first British woman to win a Grand Slam title since 1977. So it’s no wonder that the focus at her home tournament is on her performance.

She will face Maria Sakkari in the third round. The Greek was one of Emma Raducanu’s opponents on her way to triumph in Flushing Meadows. The number nine in the WTA rankings is likely to have a score to settle with her opponent, who is seven years her junior. However, the odds ahead of this match suggest that the local heroine is more likely to win between Emma Raducanu and Maria Sakkari

This is also due to the fact that the young Brit has shown the better performances of late, while her Greek opponent has staggered around the tour a bit in recent weeks. That’s why we’re mainly looking at the odds in the Oddset app for a win for the Englishwoman in the duel between Emma Raducanu and Maria Sakkari

Emma Raducanu – Statistics & current form

Current world ranking: 135
Position in the seeding list: unseeded

Sometimes things look a little worse than they are – but every now and then they turn out to be a stroke of luck. Emma Raducanu had to undergo several operations on both wrists last year and lost important points in the world rankings. She is now ranked 134th in the WTA rankings. This was not enough for the organizers of the French Open to give her a wild card for Paris

Emma Raducanu with two clear wins in round three

So the Englishwoman decided to forgo qualifying at the Stade Roland Garros and concentrate early on preparing for Wimbledon. Apparently, she did everything right, as she made it to the semi-finals in Nottingham, before reaching the quarter-finals in Eastbourne a week later. However, the tournaments were obviously enough to put the finishing touches to her Wimbledon

The 21-year-old has only served twice at Church Road. In 2021, she reached the round of 16 and a year later she reached the second round. Nevertheless, there was of course a wildcard for the main draw this year and Emma Raducanu has already justified this with good performances. The Brit marched through the first two rounds without dropping a set.

Basically, she only had slight problems in the first set against the Mexican Renata Zarazúa, but wiped them off the table with a 7:0 in the tiebreak. The second set went to Emma Raducanu 6:3. She followed this up in the second match against Belgian Elise Mertens and gave her opponent not the slightest chance with an outstanding performance of 6:1 and 6:2 in 1:17 hours

Maria Sakkari – statistics & current form

Current world ranking position: 9
Position in the seeding list: 9

It is fair to say that Maria Sakkari has been one of the world’s top tennis players since 2021. At the time, she reached the semi-finals of the French Open and the US Open. However, the Greek player is somewhat tainted by the fact that she cannot win tournaments. Her list so far includes a triumph at a tournament in Rabat, Morocco, and a Masters victory in Guadalajara in 2023

Heading to Wimbledon with a series of losses in her luggage

Other than that, the Greek’s career has been characterized by missed opportunities, although that is certainly complaining at a high level when you have established yourself in the top ten of the WTA rankings. Not much has gone right for Maria Sakkari in recent weeks. The round of 16 in Rome was still okay, but this was followed by first round defeats at the French Open and the grass court tournaments in Berlin and Bad Homburg.

At Wimbledon, the 28-year-old celebrated another victory on the WTA Tour after six long weeks. In the first round, she faced the young qualifier McCartney Kessler from the USA. The Greek player mastered this task with ease, winning 6:3 and 6:1. There were no major worries in the second round either.

The task against Arantxa Rus from the Netherlands was certainly a much tougher one, but here too the Greek player didn’t show any weaknesses and remained without losing a set, winning 7:5 and 6:3. However, it has to be said that the next task is likely to be much tougher. Our prediction for the match between Emma Raducanu and Maria Sakkari is that the British player will win. Reaching the third round is the 28-year-old’s best Grand Slam result since the 2023 Australian Open

Emma Raducanu – Maria Sakkari head-to-head / H2H record

Emma Raducanu is only 21 years old and has already endured an extremely long period of suffering with several operations in her very young career. It is therefore not surprising that the two women have only just played one match. However, it could hardly have been more important and the balance of power was clear at the time.

It was the semi-final of the 2021 US Open, with Emma Raducanu coming out of qualifying and Maria Sakkari seeded 17th. The Greek player was therefore the clear favorite, but the then 18-year-old Englishwoman took the win. The Brit left her opponent no chance with a 6:1 and 6:4 win and was to triumph two days later with a victory over Leylah Fernandez in the final at Flushing Meadows.

Emma Raducanu – Maria Sakkari tip

Certainly Emma Raducanu is no ordinary young woman who is ranked outside the top 100 in the WTA rankings and is only competing at Wimbledon with a wild card because she is English. She remains the promise of a great future in British women’s tennis. If the local fans have their way, this could well continue this year at Wimbledon.

The 21-year-old has already cut a fine figure in Nottingham and Eastbourne in the run-up to the tournament and is now continuing this seamlessly at Church Road. Maria Sakkari has struggled in recent weeks, but has delivered reliably at Wimbledon so far. Nevertheless, we maintain that we would place a bet on a win for the local heroine in a sports betting app between Emma Raducanu and Maria Sakkari

We can even imagine that there will be a clear 2:0 victory, as was the case three years ago in the semi-finals of the US Open in Flushing Meadows. We leave a backdoor open for a Greek success by betting on fewer than 22.5 games. In the end, however, we decided to play the odds on a win for the Englishwoman between Emma Raducanu and Maria Sakkari