Oman’s Fatma Al Nabhani, the GCC’s first professional female tennis player, has climbed her way back into the top-450 in the world rankings after clinching the $10K ITF 
title in Heraklion, Greece yesterday.

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The 23-year-old beat Kiev-born German lefty Tayisiya Morderger 7-5, 6-3 to win her second title of the season, having triumphed in Bahrain last month.

Al Nabhani also took the doubles crown in Greece, partnering Spain’s Cristina Sanchez-Quinatanar.

“I’m so happy, I’ve been doing good lately and I hope I can keep this up,” Al Nabhani said.

“I feel my game has improved a lot since the beginning of the year. Playing more matches gives me a lot of confidence and brings my game back.” 

She now has a total of six ITF singles trophies and six more in doubles. The Gulf native had reached a career-high ranking of 362 back in 2010 before she was hampered by injury and loss of form.

Since linking up with German academy, the Schuettler Waske Tennis-University, where the likes of Andrea Petkovic and Mona Barthel practice, earlier this year, Al Nabhani has shown solid progress and her win yesterday will take her ranking back to around 448. 

Last February, she became the first-ever female from the GCC to win a main draw match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, winning a doubles round alongside Barthel.