RRI Sports Club

Romanians at the Australian Open.

Florin Orban, 03.02.2021, 01:45

The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, kicks off next week, in Melbourne. Romania has a strong presence in the women’s singles. Simona Halep, no. 2 in the world, Patricia Tig, no. 54, Sorana Cirstea, no. 72, Irina Begu, no. 79 and Ana Bogdan, no. 93 will play directly in the first round. Another Romanian, Mihaela Buzarnescu, may also compete in Melbourne provided that some of the already qualified athletes withdraw.

Before Simona Halep started going up in the world rankings, Romanian athletes have not been very successful in Melbourne. Halep played the final in 2018 and lost to Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Last year, the Romanian made it to the semifinals while in 2014 and 2015 she was among the top eight players of the tournament. Except for Halep, the best results at the Australian Open were obtained by Virginia Ruzici and Irina Spirlea. Ruzici made it to the quarterfinals in 1980 but was defeated by Hana Manlikova of the Czech Republic, who won the tournament. Seventeen years later, Spirlea also lost in the quarterfinals to Martina Hingis of Switzerland, who won the tournament.

In the doubles it is Horia Tecau that has had the best results at the Australian Open. In 2012 he won the mixed doubles’ competition alongside the American player Bethanie Mattek-Sands. In the men’s doubles, he made it to the semifinals twice: in 2012, with the Swedish Robert Lindstedt and in 2015 with the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer. In the men’s singles, Ilie Nastase played at the Australian Open once, in 1981, when he was 35. He was up against Chris Lewis of New Zealand and lost. Romanian Andrei Pavel had the best results in Melbourne, in the men’s singles, having qualified to the fourth round twice. In 1999 Pavel was defeated in the fourth round by Russian Evgheni Kafelnikov, and in 2004, by the Spanish Juan Carlos Ferrero. (Translated by EE)