Emma Raducanu vs Maria Sakkari Prediction 2/16/25 Dubai Tennis Picks

Raducanu will play the entire Middle East Swing for the first time in her career. She started the month playing in Abu Dhabi, also as a wild card, and lost in the first round to former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.

Her next tournament in Doha was unsuccessful with Raducanu falling to Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets. That defeat extended the Briton's winless run to four matches and has only posted two wins this season.

As such, the decision to offer her a wild card has come under heavy criticism from several tennis naysayers. 

Maria Sakkari Preview

Maria Sakkari lost her spot in the world's top 10 a while ago, but she has re-entered the top 30 for now. Sakkari started the season with back-to-back defeats at the United Cup in what turned out to be a poor showing from Team Greece.

Sakkari had to play in qualifying in Adelaide and earned a spot in the main draw as a lucky loser. Although she pulled off an excellent win against Linda Noskova, she was eliminated in the second round by Jessica Pegula.

Sakkari failed to impress in her next three tournaments. She was knocked out in the first round of the Australian Open by Camila Osorio and hasn't won successive matches on tour this season.

The 29-year-old's most recent appearance was in Doha this past week where she was beaten by Iga Swiatek in the second round.

Emma Raducanu vs Maria Sakkari Head-To-Head

• Raducanu and Sakkari have played twice on the WTA Tour.

• Raducanu won both meetings at the 2021 US Open and the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.

Emma Raducanu vs Maria Sakkari Prediction

Ideally, this should have been an intriguing matchup on paper, but the reality is that both players are struggling big time. Raducanu hasn't won a match in four tries and the general consensus is that she'd be better off dropping to the lower tiers temporarily to restore her confidence and build a winning run.

Sakkari was a top 10 player not long ago, so her ranking slump was largely affected by her inactivity in the second half of last season when she shut down her campaign after the US Open because of injury. If there was a perfect time for Sakkari to inflict pain on Raducanu, this feels like it. The start to the season was uninspiring but we at least got an impression in Doha that she's taking some positive steps to regain her form.