Marrakech
\n World No. 731 Bennani, No. 587 Baadi end eight-year Moroccan wait in Marrakech<\/p>\n
18-year-old Bennani is the youngest Moroccan to win an ATP Tour match<\/p>\n
March 30, 2026<\/p>\n
Grand Prix Hassan II<\/p>\n
Karim Bennani, 18, is the youngest Moroccan to win an ATP Tour match.
\n By ATP Staff<\/p>\n
Morocco had been waiting eight years for an ATP Tour match winner \u2014 and two arrived in the space of a few hours on Monday at the Grand Prix Hassan II<\/a> in Marrakech.<\/p>\n Home wild cards Karim Bennani<\/a> and Taha Baadi<\/a> delivered a breakthrough day for Moroccan tennis at the clay-court ATP 250, where they each claimed their maiden ATP Tour victories. The 18-year-old Bennani produced a standout performance to upset Quentin Halys<\/a> 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2 in his first tour-level appearance outside of Davis Cup after Baadi set the tone by defeating Aleksandar Vukic<\/a> 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.<\/p>\n A moment he won\u2019t forget \ud83d\ude24<\/p>\n Another wild card magic in Marrakech as Bennani downs Halys in style \ud83d\udc4f#GrandPrixHassanII<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/UxQSfMgLM2<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 ATP Tour (@atptour) March 30, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what to say. I still can\u2019t believe what just happened,\u201d Bennani, the World No. 731, said in his on-court interview. \u201cThank you to the amazing Moroccan crowd, my coaches, my parents\u2026 I\u2019m just really happy with the win.\u201d<\/p>\n Baadi, 24, had opened Monday\u2019s main-draw action by becoming the first Moroccan player to record an ATP Tour win since 2018. With his victory, he has risen 109 places to No. 478 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. Not long after, Bennani followed by making history of his own, becoming the youngest Moroccan man to win a tour-level match.<\/p>\n Both players now turn their attention to the second round, where Baadi is set to face third seed Corentin Moutet<\/a> in their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, while Bennani will take on Yannick Hanfmann<\/a>.<\/p>\n The eighth-seeded Hanfmann moved past Jesper de Jong<\/a> 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour, 41 minutes. He won 91 per cent (39\/43) of first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to score his eighth tour-level win of the season.<\/p>\n Adding to the home interest, Bennani\u2019s older brother, 19-year-old Reda Bennani<\/a> \u2014 the third Moroccan wild card in the draw \u2014 is scheduled to play Mattia Bellucci<\/a> on Tuesday, giving the Marrakech crowd yet another storyline to rally behind.<\/p>\n