Gloriana Nahum made history on Sunday by becoming the first female player from Benin to win a match in a Grand Slam, defeating Japanese No.8 seed Ena Koike 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the first round of the girls' singles draw.
The 17-year-old, who trains in Paris, came from 2-0 down in the third set to win the gruelling 2-hour, 32-minute encounter. Her forehand proved to be a decisive weapon, and it was the wing with which Nahum finished off an 18-stroke rally to convert her second match point.
The close of the match also saw Nahum show tremendous sportsmanship to her opponent. As she celebrated with a roar of delight, the physically ailing Koike fell to the ground at the other end of the court and was unable to get up. Nahum was the first person over to Koike, and comforted her as medical treatment arrived. Koike eventually had to leave the court in a wheelchair.
That's a scenaro Nahum is all too familiar with. Her own Grand Slam junior debut, at the Australian Open in January, ended in a similar fashion after she sustained an ankle injury during her first round against Yuliya Perapekhina. Nahum was forced to retire trailing 6-4, 6-6 and was taken off court in a wheelchair.
Currently the junior No.46, Nahum became the first girl from the West African country of Benin to reach the junior Top 100 last year. Ahead of that milestone, the teenager told the ITF:
"I didn't expect something like this when I started playing tennis. At that time, I just wanted to enjoy myself and have fun with my dad and brother. But I also wanted to travel, and my dad said that if I wanted to travel through tennis then I had 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 junior major. Okutoyi went on to become the Wimbledon girls' doubles champion that year.
Nahum has also begun to make an impact on the women's tour. Last October, she reached her first professional final in just her fourth event at a Monastir ITF W15 event. She's currently ranked No.1162, having become the first Beninese player to gain a WTA ranking last month.
Nahum next faces 17-year-old Eliska Tichackova of the Czech Republic.
