After her breakthrough performance at the 2000 U.S. Nationals, where she won her first silver medal, Sasha has been recognized as a skater with a very exciting future ahead of her.

The 2002 Olympics was Sasha's first major international competition. In the Opening Ceremonies, Sasha was one of the lucky athletes to sit next to President Bush. She made national news when she asked him to talk on her cell phone to her mother. Roughly two weeks later, in the short program, Sasha had one of her best performances. She placed third. Two nights later was the long program. After a bad morning practice, Sasha seemed to be skating great in the warmup. When she took the ice for the long program, she seemed to be very determined and that showed through the rest of her performances. After a fall on the 3 lutz/3 toe combination, she was flawless and placed fourth in the long and fourth overall. She later went on to finish fourth at the World Championships.

Starting off the 2002-2003 season, Sasha won two Grand Prix events and two Pro-Am competitions. One of the favorites going into the 2003 Nationals, Sasha placed third. With her performances securing the top spot entering the 2003 Grand Prix Final, Sasha went on to win the event - her first major international title. She placed fourth overall at the 2003 World Championships after placing third in the free skate. At the 2003 Worlds, Sasha accomplished many things; she landed her first triple/triple (3 lutz/3 toe) combination in competition and her first seven triple program. Overall, it was a succesful season, Sasha winning a total of five gold medals.

The 2003-2004 season was full of ups and downs for Sasha. She started off the season winning the Campbell's Classic with a strong debut of her new long program, Swan Lake. Sasha continued on to win all three of her Grand Prix events which lasted through November. Then came the month of December. Three falls at the ABC Winter Challenge left her in third place. Another three falls at the Grand Prix Final left Sasha, the defending champion, with a silver medal. Later in the month, Sasha made a startling announcement: she changed coaches to Robin Wagner, coach of 2002 Olympic Champion, Sarah Hughes. Despite two rough competitions, Sasha was a favorite heading into the 2004 National Championships. She was in first place after a perfect short program, but dropped to second in the free skate. Nevertheless, there was an obvious improvement over the two previous competitions. Sasha continued on to win the silver medal at the World Championships. She placed first in both the qualifying round (with a clean program)and the short program (where she received 4 6.0s) and placed third in the free skate with only one mistake. Sasha finished off the season victorious at the Marshall's World Challenge, defeating newly-crowned World Champion Shizuka Arakawa and Michelle Kwan. This event marked her first error-free 7-triple free skate and she was rewarded with 2 6.0s for presentation.

The beginning of the 2004-2005 season was marked with a debut bronze medal performance to The Nutcrakcer at the Campbell's Skating Challenge. Prior to the start of the Grand Prix, Sasha experienced pain in her back and was informed it was a recurrence of her 2000-2001 season back injury. This forced her to withdraw from her scheduled Grand Prix events. In returning to competition, Sasha struggled through a rough performance to place third at the 2004 Marshalls World Cup. Two weeks before the National Championships, Sasha announced that she would be moving back to California to resume training with her long-time former coach, John Nicks. After mistakes in the long programs at both events, she earned her fourth national silver medal and second world silver.