About 2023 Morocco Open
The Morocco Open or Rabat Grand Prix is a women's professional tennis tournament which is a WTA Tour event and is classified as an International tournament. It is played on outdoor clay courts which is played in Rabat, Morocco. Also, it is the only WTA tournament held in Africa. Due to the sponsorship reasons, this tournament is also known as the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem.
History
The tournament was inaugurated in 2001 where it was categorized as the Tier V tournament. It was formed after the name of Princess Lalla Meryem, the sister of Mohammed VI, King of Morocco.
In that season, Zsofia Gubacsi (Hungary) defeated Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) in the finals by 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) to clinch the title in singles category. On the other hand, the pair of Asa Svensson (Sweden) and Lubomira Bacheva (Bulgaria) defeated the pair of Maria Emilia Salerni (Argentina) and Maria Jose Martinez (Spain) by 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1 grabbed a victory in the doubles category.
Venue
Currently, this tournament is played in Rabat, Morocco which became the official venue of this tournament post 2016. The venue for this has been changed a multiple of times as the year in which it was founded, 2001, Casablanca was its venue for four years. Locations like Fes and Marrakech have also hosted this event in the past.
Prize Money
A prize money of 226,750 USD has been announced by the official committee of this tournament which will be distributed to the different players of various categories according to their finishing spots at the end of the tournament.
Past Winners
In 2018, Belgian player Elise Mertens defeated the Australian player Ajla Tomljanovic by a score of 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) in the finals to clinch the title in the women's shelter category. On the other hand, in the doubles category, the pair of Anna Blinkova (Russia) and Raluca Olaru (Romania) defeated the pair of Georgina Garcia Perez (Spain) and Fanny Stollar (Hungary) by a margin of 6-4, 6-4 in the finals to take the trophy home.
