London — Morocco's Reda Bennani claimed an impressive victory in the first round of the Wimbledon junior tournament on Monday in London, beating local favourite Oliver Bonding 6-4 6-7(4) 7-6(6).
The 17-year-old became the first Moroccan to win a match at Wimbledon since Mehdi Ziadi in 2004. He thus becomes the fifth Moroccan junior player in history to claim victory at the prestigious Grand Slam tournament.
In addition, Bennani's clash with the Briton was the Moroccan's first ever match on grass, and he has two previous Grand Slam appearances to his name, albeit on the clay of Roland Garros.
"It's incredible, it's the best feeling ever," said a delighted Bennani in a post-match statement to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) website.
"It's my first time here and my first time on grass. I wasn't expecting anything. I just wanted to get out on the court and enjoy the crowd. I couldn't be happier," added the young prodigy, who paid tribute to his idols Younes El Aynaoui, Karim Alami and Hicham Arazi.
Reda Bennani is currently 17th in the ITF World Tennis Tour rankings for boys. In the second round, he will face Spain's Rafael Jodar, who last week won the J300 Roehampton, the traditional grass court warm-up event for Wimbledon.
