China Open 2025: Leylah Fernandez vs Maria Sakkari preview, head-to-head, odds, prediction, and pick

Match Details

Fixture: (25) Leylah Fernandez vs Maria Sakkari

Date: September 26, 2025

Tournament: 2025 China Open

Round: Second Round (Round of 64)

Venue: National Tennis Center, Beijing, China

Category: WTA 1000

Surface: Hard

Prize Money: $8,963,700

Live Telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Sky Sports | Canada - TSN

Leylah Fernandez vs Maria Sakkari preview

Fernandez at the 2025 China Open (Getty)

25th-seeded Leylah Fernandez is all set to face former Top-10 player Maria Sakkari in the second round of the 2025 China Open.

Fernandez has won 24 of the 45 matches she has played this year, with her best outing coming at Washington, where she won the title, including wins over Maya Joint, Jessica Pegula, Taylor Townsend, and Elena Rybakina before winning 6-1, 6-2 over Anna Kalinskaya in the final.

Barring the title run, Fernandez's only notable hard-court result of the year was reaching the quarterfinal of the Abu Dhabi Open, where she lost 5-7, 6-4, 2-6 against Ashlyn Krueger. She began her campaign at the 2025 China Open with a bye in the first round.

Maria Sakkari has a 23-26 win-loss record in 2025, with her best results coming on the hard courts as she reached a couple of quarterfinals at the Linz Open and at the Citi DC Open, losing 5-7, 0-6 against Dayana Yastremska at the Linz Open, and losing 4-6, 5-7 against Emma Raducanu in Washington.

Coming into Beijing, Sakkari lost in the third round at the US Open, losing 1-6, 2-6 against Beatriz Haddad Maia, and then losing 2-6, 0-6 against Elsa Jacquemot at the Guadalajara Open, but regrouped well and began her China Open campaign with a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5 win over Ashlyn Krueger in the first round.

Leylah Fernandez vs Maria Sakkari head-to-head

Sakkari has a 3-0 head-to-head record against Fernandez, winning the last encounter 7-6 (2), 6-3 at the 2024 United Cup.

Leylah Fernandez vs Maria Sakkari odds

Player Name	Moneyline	Hnadicap Bets	Total Games
Leylah Fernandez	-165	-1.5 (+130)	Over 21.5 (-120)
Maria Sakkari	+130	+1.5 (-190)	Under 21.5 (-118)

(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)

Leylah Fernandez vs Maria Sakkari prediction

With a 60 percent win rate on hard courts, Fernandez has reached six finals on the surface, including a Major final, and has four hard-court titles in her career, but jas a 1-1 win-loss record at the China Open.

Sakkari has a 55 percent win rate on hard courts, reaching eight finals on the surface, with her only hard-court title coming at the 2023 Guadalajara Open, and she is a former quarterfinalist at the China Open.

Even though Fernandez is the seeded player, Sakkari's head-to-head record makes her the favorite to win the upcoming match.

Pick- Sakkari to win in three sets

About the author

Sagnik, a Mass Communication and Journalism graduate, is a tennis journalist at Sportskeeda. Before finding his spot in the tennis writing team, he worked as a junior content specialist for academic content writing firms for a couple of years.

Before putting out any information in the public domain, Sagnik makes sure that every element of his content is well-researched and backed with credible data so that there is no misinterpretation of facts or quotes and ethical standards are maintained. To do so, Sagnik follows reputed websites like the Tennis Channel and Tennis TV, and renowned journalists on social media.

He is a fan of former player Roger Federer, and just like his favorite player, Sagnik likes to bring perfection to his write-ups by providing concise and on-point content. Speaking of the ‘GOAT’ debate, Sagnik believes that it is a bit unfair to compare the legends of the game from different eras who have played on different terms. But if he were to pick one, he’d go for Novak Djokovic based on his tally of 24 Grand Slam titles.

When not writing about tennis and technically analyzing the sport, which he believes are his 'forte', Sagnik indulges in reading books.

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Edited by SAGNIK DATTA