She is considered one of the best Greek tennis players of the Open Era, winning five singles titles and three doubles titles on theWTA Tour. In 2003, she reached the mixed-doubles final of theAustralian Open, making her the first Greek player to have reached a Grand Slam final. Her highest singles ranking is world No. 14, making her the only female tennis player from Greece to have reached the top 20 untilMaria Sakkari in February 2020. No male tennis player had achieved this untilStefanos Tsitsipas reached 15th place in August 2018. By beatingJustine Henin in the first round of the2005 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first player to defeat a reigningFrench Open champion in the first round ofWimbledon.
Daniilidou began her professional career in 1996, making the final of her firstITF event, having barely turned 14. She achieved her first ranking in 1998, finishing that year as the world No. 294. In 2001, she broke into the top 100 following a third round appearance at theUS Open. 2002 was the best year of Daniilidou's career, finishing it at No. 22 in the world. She won her first WTA career singles title at theRosmalen Championships, defeatingElena Dementieva in the final;[1] and reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time atWimbledon. At the end of the year, she reached her second WTA final at theBrasil Open, beatingMonica Seles en route,[2] but lost toAnastasia Myskina.[3]
Daniilidou started 2003 by winning her second WTA title at theAuckland Open[4] and reaching the fourth round of theAustralian Open, results which saw her break into the top 20 for the first time, reaching a career high of No. 14 after theGerman Open. She also reached the semifinals of theParis Indoors and theDFS Classic. Daniilidou successfully defended her title at Auckland in 2004, her third WTA singles title.[5] She reached the semifinals at the prestigiousMiami Open, beatingJennifer Capriati en route. Later that year she equalled her best Grand Slam performance at theUS Open by reaching the fourth round.
2005 was a relatively poor year for Daniilidou, becoming the first since 2001 where she did not win a title. She did, however, cause a huge upset atWimbledon, beating the reigning French Open champion,Justine Henin. It was the first time the French Open champion had ever lost in the first round of Wimbledon. It also brought the end of Henin's 24-match win streak dating back to the beginning of the clay season. Daniilidou eventually lost in the third round, her best Grand Slam performance of the year. She also reached the semifinals of a lower level WTA event in Portorož, Slovenia. She recovered slightly in 2006, going back into the top 50 and winning her fourth WTA singles title at theKorea Open.[6] She also reached the semifinals of the Ordina Open, and remained in the top 50 in 2007 with her best result being a semifinal at theConnecticut Open, where she beatDinara Safina in the quarterfinals after saving a match point.
2008 was an injury-plagued season for Daniilidou, missing almost half the year with a right knee injury. She won her fifth and last WTA singles title at theHobart International,[7] but missed several months of events from March. She returned at theSummer Olympics in August but failed to win a match for the rest of the season, ultimately finishing the year outside the top 100 for the first time since 2000.
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
^abThe firstPremier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between theDubai Tennis Championships and theQatar Total Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified asWTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.
^abcDuring the season, she did not play in the main-draw of any WTA Tour-level tournaments. However, she played at theFed Cup that is not counted as a played tournament but matches counted.