Mayar Sherif (Tennis Channel - Twitter)
Egypt’s Mayar Sherif will face the challenge of Julia Riera in the second round of the Morocco Open 2023
Mayar Sherif has lacked consistency throughout the season. She had mixed results before coming to Morocco – a quarter-final finish in Madrid followed by a first-round exit in Rome. The Egyptian is the third seed in Morocco and will be looking to put together a string of consistent results heading into the French Open next week. She has the talent to do it but it remains to be seen if she can convert the talent into positive results.
Sherif won her opening match of the tournament against Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova. It was a routine job for the third as she cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 victory against her lowly-ranked opponent. The job only gets tougher from here though and there is no room for complacency. Sherif will be confident about her chances going into the match against Riera she can certainly not take anything for granted.
Julia Riera is an emerging star in women’s tennis. The 20-year-old Argentine is a regular at the ITF level and has already won 5 ITF titles in her brief career till date. However, the WTA is undoubtedly a level above the ITF circuit and she has to quickly adapt to the demands of this level. She has made a good start at the Moroccan Open with a 6-3, 6-0 win against Kristina Mladenovic but things only get tougher from here. It will be interesting to see if she can put up a strong fight against the much higher-ranked Mayar Sherif.
Date – Wednesday, 24th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Rabat
Match details – Round of 16
Sherif and Riera have never played each other before on the WTA tour. This is the first professional head to head clash between the two players. On paper, Sherif is the favourite both in terms of form and rankings. However, one can certainly not rule out the promising Argentine and she is expected to put up a tough fight. We are predicting a close match with Mayar Sherif eventually winning in three sets.
More Tennis news
Follow our dedicated Tennis page for instant Tennis news and updates