Julia Riera, from bad luck for having missed her first Roland Garros in the unbeatable debut at the WTA in Rabat

Julia Riera She started the 2023 season with two big goals: getting into the top 150 of the WTA and playing in the Grand Slam qualification. I dreamed of reaching that second goal for the first time Roland Garrosbut he won’t be able to do so, because when he closed the entry list for the previous stage of the French Grand Slam, which began on Monday, he was still outside the top 250. That bad luck, though, ended up being a good thing. Is that the pergaminense has decided to take advantage of this week that has been released in its calendar to play the WTA 250 of Rabat and ended up signing an unbeatable debut at the top level of women’s tennis.

Riera, 20 years old and 195th in the world, made his debut in the Moroccan competition with a great victory against the French Kristina Mladenovic, former world number ten, whom he beat 6-3 and 6-0 in one hour and six minutes of play. It was her first career win at a WTA event. This wednesday (around 10:00 argentina time) you will play for the double against the egyptian Mayar Sheriff55th in the standings and third favourite.

The native of Buenos Aires played a great game against Mladenovic, back from seasons complicated by injuries and today she is 165th, and enthusiastically celebrated a great career goal, which arrived almost unexpectedly.

Between April 17 and 30, Riera experienced two dream weeks in Guayaquil, where he won two titles ITF W25 to the wire With these dedications he ensured that he broke the barrier of the top 200, although he had to wait until 8 May to present himself in his new position, 193rd. Because at that moment the WTA 1000 Madrid, which began on April 25 and ended on May 7. For this reason, on May 1st, the day after his second party in Ecuador, the ranking was not updated. Furthermore, just that day, she closed the entry list for the Paris classification and she, in 252nd place, remained out.

Taking advantage of the fact that many of the players who are moving up in the rankings have decided to go looking for a place in the rankings main design From Roland Garroshe managed to enter the Rabat team directly, a race that sees the Italian among the favourites Martina Trevisan26th and semi-finalist last year in Bois de Boulogneand the American Sloane Stephens35th and champion of US Open 2017.

The Argentine, ranked 17th out of 32 players, had never played in a tournament in the WTA tours. Yes, I had disputed some of them WTA 125, second level of the circuit, equivalent to the ATP challengers. But neither that inexperience nor his rival’s credentials – Mladenovic reached the quarterfinals of the US Open in 2015 and the French big names in 2017 – weighed on him when he took the field in the Moroccan capital.

Riera started playing tennis at the age of 7 at Gymnastics and Fencing Club parchment and it didn’t take long for her talent to stand out. However, in 2015, at 13, she hung up her racket, tired of the difficulties and commitments of a sport in which she usually does everything uphill. The following year, a call from Daniele Orsanico, then director of development at the AAT, pushed her to start over. And since I’ve been back on the field, she hasn’t stopped growing.

At the professional level, Pergamine’s woman has won five trophies since ITF Women’s Tour. The first two arrived in 2021, two W15s in Antalya, Türkiye. He added another, the W25 in Trieste, Italy last year, which started outside the top 650 and finished 261st. And in this 2023 he has expanded his record with those two victories in a row in Guayaquil that have allowed him to enter the lot of the 200 best.

He was also one of the figures of the Argentine team that went on to win the undefeated Group I Americasin mid-April in Cúcuta, and qualified for the Playoffs of the Billie Jean King Cup 2023. In that Colombian city he won the six matches he played, five in singles and one in doubles. THE AT extension announced Tuesday that, for that performance, she was chosen by fans to receive the “Heart Prize”which honors female tennis players who represent their countries in that tournament with distinction, display exceptional courage on the court and outstanding commitment to the ideals of the competition.

“I’m at my best time and at my best level of tennis,” the Buenos Aires native said in an interview with the newspaper The opinion, from Parchment, ten days ago. “With Billie’s matches and the ITF in Ecuador, I gained more confidence and raised my bar.”

And although he still had the desire to play Roland Garros as a quality player, that leap he made in the standings at the beginning of this month – and which will be accentuated on Monday because he will appear, at least, 184th – has already guaranteed him, barring a few surprises, of which he will be able to play the previous phase Wimbledon. Meanwhile, Julia continues to gain pace and experience and break down barriers, as she did at her debut in Rabat.