Second seed Maria Sakkari will take on first-time finalist Caroline Dolehide in the final of the 2023 Guadalajara Open. The match will be played on Saturday, September 23, 2023.
It’s back-to-back finals in Guadalajara for Greece’s Maria Sakkari. The second seed romped into the championship match without losing a set. Sakkari also gave away a maximum of four games per set, and completely obliterated Caroline Garcia, the third seed, who perhaps was expected to give a tougher bout. But Sakkari played with verve and the confidence that seemed to elude her in each of her last four tournaments on hard courts. But she’s got a massive opportunity to win her second career title in a matchup against the surprise package of the Guadalajara Open.
Not many tennis fans heard of Caroline Dolehide prior to this week. The Illinois native ranked 111th in the world, made quite the splash at the Guadalajara Open, taking matters into her own hands and bludgeoning her way into her first WTA final against all the odds. It’s one of the most surprising runs by an underdog that I can remember and the story could still have an exclamation point on Saturday. Dolehide, who has featured predominantly on the ITF circuit, had scored four wins on Tour this season. But she came full circle this week, weathering through an almighty storm, including match-point saves in her quarterfinal win over Martina Trevisan. Can she complete this remarkable run by winning the WTA 1000 on her first attempt?
Not even in her wildest dreams could Caroline Dolehdide envisage this moment. But she’s grown in confidence and belief ever since she won her opening match against compatriot Peyton Stearns in three tiebreaks. One of the key features in her game is the versatility of her serve and she’s not afraid of going big with it even if it generates an unwelcome number of double faults. She’s still not the overall package but I’m sure we’ll see major improvements in her baseline game which is still far too error-prone. But breaking the Top 50 is no mean feat and if you gave her that result at the start of the tournament, she’d probably snap your hand. Sakkari has been the dominant player in Guadalajara and her resilience from that tearful US Open exit isn’t talked about enough. I can’t see the Greek squandering this opportunity, and she’ll do it in style.