Maria Sakkari's rough start to the 2025 season continues after the Greek tennis star got upset by a wildcard in her opener at the WTA 500 tournament in Merida.
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Zeynep Sonmez, who surprised everyone last year by winning her maiden WTA title in Merida, is now ranked at No. 88 in the world and her ranking wasn't enough for her to enter this year's tournament directly.
However, the Mexican event organizers came through with a wildcard.
And on Tuesday evening, the wildcard Turk started her Merida title defense by upsetting No. 8 seed Sakkari 7-5 6-2.
Now, Sonmez owns a 6-0 record in Merida.
In the round-of-16, the 22-year-old will play against Magda Linette.
On the other side, the Greek former world No. 3 has now lost her last three matches and stands at 4-9 in 2025.
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How Sonmez overcame Sakkari?
The No. 8 seed started the match with an early 2-0 lead but the Turk responded with back-to-back breaks to go 3-2 up.
In the sixth game, the wildcard got broken back but she took the Greek's serve again in the ninth game to open a 5-4 lead.
While Sonmez failed to serve out for the first set in her first attempt, she didn't panic as she broke Sakkari again in the 11th game before putting a curtain on the opener in the following game.
After sealing the first set, the Turk went on a big second-set run as she won five games in a row to open a 5-1 lead before serving out for the match in the eighth game.
