RRI Sports Club – tennis
The Romanian tennis players' participation in the Miami Tournament
Florin Orban, 01.04.2015, 13:28
The center of world tennis for more than a week now has moved to Miami, the American city hosting two major tournaments, a men’s event and a women’s contest, respectively, with more than 5 million dollars in prize money. Romanian tennis players proved themselves in both versions of the Miami tournament.
In the women’s competition, the world’s number three tennis player Simona Halep Wednesday night will be fighting for a place in the semifinals, at 2 am Bucharest time on Thursday. Halep will be taking on US tennis player Sloane Stephens, the world’s number 45 according to WTA rankings. Head-to-heads points to four confrontations and a 2-all draw between the two tennis players. However, in their last match Halep defeated Stephens, 6-4, 6-3, in the Roland Garros semifinals last year.
Early 2015 turned out to be auspicious for Halep as she succeeded a string of wins in Shenzhen, Dubai and Indian Wells. In Miami, Simona competed straight into the second round. First she edged past Czech tennis player Nicole Vaidisova, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1. In the third round she defeated Italy’s Camila Giorgi, 6-4, 7-5, then in the eighth finals Halep defeated a much more experienced contender, Flavia Pennetta, also of Italy, 6-3, 7-5.
Another Romanian player, Monica Niculescu, will be competing in the women’s contest of the tournament in Miami. In the doubles event, pairing up with Russia’s Alexandra Panova, Niculescu defeated the Taiwanese-Italian pair made up of Su Wei Hsieh and number 4 favorite Flavia Pennetta in the eighth finals, 3-6, 6-3, 11-9. In the quarterfinals, Niculescu and Panova will be taking on the all-Czech pair made up of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, number 9 favorites to winning the title.
In the men’s doubles, a Romanian-Dutch pair made of Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer is the number four favourite to winning the tournament. So the two stand chances to go through to the semifinals. However, on Wednesday night, Tecau and Rojer will have to defeat the all-American pair made of John Isner and Sam Querrey.
