Athlete of the Week on RRI – Tennis player Jaqueline Cristian

Cristian won two games in the Billien Jean King Cup match against Serbia

Steliu Lambru, 14.11.2023, 13:45

The Romanian national tennis team defeated Serbia 4-0 in
the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs. The match was played in Kraljevo, Serbia. Starting
next year, Romania will thus play in the preliminaries for the Billie Jean King
Cup final.

In the
first two singles matches played on Friday, Gabriela Ruse (WTA 125) defeated
Mia Ristic (WTA 353), 7-6, 6-3, while Jaqueline Cristian (WTA 98) won 7-5, 6-4
against Alekandra Krunic (WTA 689). On Saturday, Jaqueline Cristian grabbed the
winning point for Romania after defeating Lola Radivojevic (WTA 276), final
score 7-5, 4-6, 7-5. Aged 25, Jaqueline Cristian defeated Radivojevic at the
end of three hours of playtime. The match was disputed, with the Serbian player
leading 4-2 in the final set. Jaqueline Cristian upped her game and eventually
won the tie-break 7-5.

In the doubles match, Monica Niculescu and Anca Todoni won
6-1, 7-6 against Katarina Kozarov and Aleksandra Krunic.

For her performance of winning two games in the Billie Jean
King Cup match, we have designated Jaqueline Cristian Athlete of the Week on
RRI.

Jaqueline Adina Cristian was born in Bucharest in 1998. In
2015, at the age of 17, she made her debut in a WTA tournament in the doubles
alongside Gabriela Ruse. So far, Jaqueline Cristian has won 14 ITF tournaments
and played a WTA final in Linz, Austria, in 2021, losing to Alison Riske of the
United States. Her best performance in Grand Slam tournaments was reaching the
second round at the Australian Open in 2022 and the second round in Wimbledon
this year. In the doubles, Jaqueline Cristian reached the third round at the
Australian open in 2022. (VP)