Gloriana Nahum made history on Sunday as she became the first female player from Benin to win a Grand Slam match, defeating Japanese No. 8 Ena Koike 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the girls’ first round. single draw.
The 17-year-old, who trains in Paris, came from 2-0 down in the third set to win the grueling 2 hour 32 minute encounter. Her forehand proved a decisive weapon and was the wing with which Nahum completed an 18-year rally to convert her second match point.
The closing bout also saw Nahum show tremendous sportsmanship to her opponent. As she celebrated with a roar of delight, the sick Koike fell to the ground at the other end of the court and was unable to get up. Nahum was the first person to go to Koike and comfort her as medical treatment arrived. Koike eventually had to leave the field in a wheelchair.
This is a scenario Nahum is all too familiar with. Her own junior Grand Slam debut, at the Australian Open in January, ended in a similar fashion after she suffered an ankle injury in her first round match against Yuliya Perapekhina. Nahum was forced to retire 6-4, 6-6 and that was it he walked off the field in a wheelchair.
Currently ranked junior No. 46, Nahum became the first girl from the West African country of Benin to reach the junior Top 100 last year. In front of this landmark, the teenager he told the ITF:
“I didn’t expect this when I started playing tennis. At the time, I just wanted to have fun and have fun with my dad and my brother. But I also wanted to travel and my dad told me that if I wanted to Travel in tennis, then I had to to be the best.”
Nahum’s breakthrough follows other recent national milestones on the junior tour. At the 2023 Australian Open, Kenya’s Angella Okutoyi and Iran’s Meshkatolzahra Safi became the first players from their respective countries to compete in a major junior division. Okutoyi became the Wimbledon girls’ doubles champion that year.
Nahum is starting to make an impact on the women’s tour as well. Last October, she reached her first professional final in just her fourth match at the Monastir ITF W15 event. She is currently ranked No. 1162, having become the first player from Benin to earn a WTA ranking last month.
Nahum next faces 17-year-old Eliska Tichackova from the Czech Republic.