Tennis: Julia Riera gave another surprise in Morocco and reached the quarterfinals

Julia Riera continue to amaze inside WTA 250 of Rabat, her debut tournament at the top level of women’s tennis. The 195th-placed Buenos Aires woman beat the Egyptian 7-5 with a brace Mayar Sheriff, third favorite and 55th in the world, and progressed to the quarter-finals. It was the first win of his career against a player ranked in the top 100.

It took Argentina two hours and 32 minutes to overtake its rival and enter the top 8 of the Moroccan competition. This Thursday, not earlier than 8 o’clock in our country, they will face the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva61st in the world rankings, beating France’s Leolia Jeanjean 6-2, 6-1.

Born in Pergamino 20 years ago, Riera had not played in any tournament in the WTA tours until this week. If some WTA 125, second level of the circuit, equivalent to the ATP challengers. After staying out of the quality From Roland Garros -and taking advantage of the fact that many of the players above her in the standings are playing that qualifying round in Paris this week- she entered straight into the main draw in Rabat.

In the first round, she had a big win against the French Kristina Mladenovic, former world number ten (now 165th after overcoming some injuries), whom he beat 6-3 and 6-0. And this Wednesday he took another step in what is already the best week of his career and ensured that he climbed to the 171st step of the standings.

The woman from Pergamin is having an excellent 2023. Between 17 and 30 April she won two titles ITF W25 in a row in Guayaquil and, thanks to those consecrations, he broke the barrier of the top 200 for the first time. Those two trophies added to the three he already had in his record: two W15 in Antalya in 2021 ea W25 of Trieste in 2022.

He was also one of the figures of the Argentine team that won the Group I Americas undefeated, in 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. For that performance, she was chosen by the 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.

In her best tennis moment, the Buenos Aires native, who aims to challenge the quality of Wimbledonwhich would be her first foray into a Grand Slam, she started with her entire career at the WTA level in Rabat, where she will go the most this Thursday.