Carol Zhao almost caused a surprise on Monday at the Rabat tournament in Morocco, losing in three sets of 7-6 (4), 1-6 and 6-2 to Spain’s Nuria Parrizas-Diaz.
Zhao, ranked 337th in the world, could well have won had it not been for her numerous points lost in the tiebreaker when she had the balls in hand. She also committed nine double faults in the game and won only 43% of the points with her second ball.
This inconsistency cost him dearly as it was broken twice in the third set. By the 49th racket in the world.
Zhao needed qualifications to reach the main draw, notably defeating the Frenchwoman Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (142nd) in the second round. She had thus qualified for a first WTA tournament this season.
Place in Marino
As Zhao tried his luck in Morocco, tennis fans’ eyes were mainly on Paris, where qualifying for the French Open got under way on Monday.
If no Canadian was in action on the first day, Rebecca Marino (116th) will rub shoulders with Argentina Paula Ormaechea (148th) on Tuesday. The two women have never faced each other in the WTA.
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