Yasmine Kabbaj became the first Moroccan player to win a match on the WTA Tour driven by Mercedes-Benz since 2011 on Tuesday, outlasting Berfu Cengiz 7-6, 6-3 in the first round at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem. On the same day in Rabat, Sada Nahimana made more history of her own, beating Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 7-5 to become the first Burundian to defeat a top-100 player.
The wins gave the home crowd and the wider African tennis scene a rare double lift. Kabbaj, a 22-year-old San Diego State alumna, is the fourth Moroccan woman to win a tour-level match in the Open Era, joining a short list that includes Nadia Lalami, who was the most recent to do it before her with a run to the 2011 Fès quarterfinals. Nahimana, ranked No. 231, arrived in Rabat after strong results over the past two months, including finals at the Bujumbura W50 and Platja d'Aro W35 and a semifinal last week at the Zagreb W75.
Kabbaj’s breakthrough was not her first sign of progress. She made her WTA main-draw debut as a wild card in Rabat in 2024 and last month earned the first top-100 victory of her career by beating Diane Parry in the Saint-Malo WTA 125 first round. That has pushed her to No. 334, just one place below her career high of No. 331, and made her already the third-highest ranked Moroccan woman in WTA history, behind Habiba Ifrakh and Bahia Mouhtassine.
Nahimana’s rise has been just as steady. She became the first Burundian to compete in a WTA main draw in Rabat in 2023 and later this year became the first from her country to win a tour-level match when she defeated Aya El Aouni. Her victory over Tomljanovic went a step further, giving Burundi its first top-100 scalp and underlining how quickly she has moved from making appearances to changing the record book.
Tuesday also delivered another first for another wild card. Yelyzaveta Kotliar claimed her first tour-level win by beating Francesca Jones 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 2 hours and 20 minutes, adding another upset to a day that was already reshaping the tournament draw. With several players from outside tennis’s traditional power centers now winning on a WTA stage, the next rounds in Rabat will show whether these breakthroughs are isolated moments or the start of something larger.
