Nahimana, Kabbaj make history for Burundi, Morocco in Rabat

2m read 19 May 2026 59m ago

Summary

Sada Nahimana became the first Burundian to defeat a Top 100 player and Yasmine Kabbaj became the first Moroccan to win a WTA match in 15 years with their first-round wins at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem.

highlights

From 4-0 down in decider, Ukrainian teenager Kotliar denies Jones in Rabat

06:06

Two wild cards at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem notched significant national milestones with their first-round victories on Tuesday.

Home hope Yasmine Kabbaj became the first Moroccan player to win a match on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz since 2011 by beating Berfu Cengiz 7-6(4), 6-3. Earlier, Sada Nahimana became the first Burundian to score a victory over an opponent ranked in the Top 100 by defeating Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 7-5.

Rabat: Scores | Draws | Order of play

No. 334-ranked Kabbaj is just the fourth Moroccan woman to win a tour-level match in the Open Era, following Habiba Ifrakh, Bahia Mouhtassine and most recently Nadia Lalami, who made the Fès quarterfinals in 2011. The 22-year-old, a San Diego State alumna, made her WTA main-draw debut as a wild card at Rabat 2024. Last month, she scored her first career Top 100 victory over Diane Parry in the Saint-Malo WTA 125 first round.

Kabbaj -- whose career high is No. 331 -- is already the third-highest ranked Moroccan woman in WTA history, behind Mouhtassine (who peaked at No. 139 in 2002) and Lalami (who reached No. 322 in 2011).

Nahimana is familiar with making history for Burundi in Rabat. She became the first player from her country to compete in a WTA main draw here in 2023, then in 2025 the first Burundian to win a tour-level match after she defeated Aya El Aouni to make the second round. However, her upset of three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist Tomljanovic -- in which Nahimana showed off impressive prowess with the drop shot -- is a career-best performance.

The 25-year-old is currently ranked No. 231 after strong performances over the past two months. Across Nahimana's four prior tournaments, she had reached the finals of the Bujumbura W50 and Platja d'Aro W35, then the semifinals of the Zagreb W75 last week.

A third wild card, 19-year-old Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Kotliar, also claimed her first tour-level win with a remarkable comeback win. The No. 528-ranked teenager trailed Francesca Jones 4-0 in the third set, but roared back to seal a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in 2 hours and 20 minutes.

WTA Staff