Sherif vs Stearns: Rabat Final Analysis (WTA 250)

Short points and a lot more rally forehands for a first WTA Tour title

cover 📸 credit: Univers Tennis twitter

Peyton Stearns (WTA#81) was praised following her matches against Aryna Sabalenka in Indian Wells (held 4 match points) and Victoria Azarenka in Miami. But she ended on the losing side both times and, in a way, that reflected how her 2024 was going. Stearns travelled to Rabat with a 7-12 record on the season, including 3-10 in 3-setters.

It looked almost certain the latter would become 4-11 when 4th-seed and defending Rabat champion Lucia Bronzetti (WTA #48) reached match point leading 5-0 in the decider of their quarterfinal encounter.

With a backhand winner, Stearns kept the match alive. And point by point, she began recovering.

📺 credit: wtatv.com

After Stearns cut the deficit to 4-5, Bronzetti held a 2nd match point. Once again, it was erased by a backhand winner from Stearns.

Three games later, Stearns was already leading 6-5. She completed one of the comebacks of the season with yet another winner, this one from the forehand side, for a final score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

Was this the spark Stearns needed to turn her season on its head?

It sure looked that way on the following day. Stearns staged another comeback, this one from 1-4 down in the third set, to defeat Viktoryia Tomova (WTA #84) 6-7(6), 7-5, 7-6(4) in a 3h15min tussle and qualify for a 2nd career WTA Tour final. She had been was a runner-up in Bogotá last year, losing to Tatjana Maria.

Stearns’s opponent in the final would be Mayar Sherif (WTA #66), another player with a rough start to 2024. After retiring during her first round match at the Australian Open with a back injury, Sherif was out of action for a while. Her first Tour win arrived almost 5 months into the season, in Madrid. For Sherif, it was the return to red clay the spark she needed to get her season going. Entering the Rabat final, Sherif had won 15 of 20 matches on the surface, with 2 runner-up finishes in WTA 125s at Lleida and Parma (read here).

Each point is considered only once. Therefore, aces are not included in winner totals and double faults are not included in unforced error totals.

The Rabat final ended in double joy for Stearns. First, it was a straight-sets match that didn’t require any comebacks or dramatics. More importantly, it brought Stearns a maiden WTA Tour title.

There were 2 key factors in Stearns’s win over Sherif:

1. short points

2. frequency of rally forehands

1. Short points