RRI Sports Club – Tennis
News from international tennis.
Florin Orban, 18.06.2014, 12:54
In recent years Romanian tennis has reported constant progress. A major contribution to the upward trend is owed to the recent performances of Simona Halep, a player that in less than a year has skipped over 50 places in WTA standings, from being ranked 60th in 2013 to now being WTA ranked 3rd, an all time-high for Romanian women’s tennis. At the Roland Garros tournament in June Simona reached the finals, although she lost to Maria Sharapova of Russia. It was the best performance for a Romanian tennis player at the French Open in the last 35 years. The last performance matching Simona’s feat belonged to Florenta Mihai, who played in the final in 1977. One year later, in 1978, Virginia Ruzici won the singles tournament and also prevailed in the doubles competition alongside Mima Jausovec of Yugoslavia.
This week Simona Halep is playing in the ATP tournament of s’Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. On Tuesday she grabbed a two-set win over Olga Govortsova of Belarus, and has progressed to the second round.
In men’s tennis, Florin Mergea has been the champion of best performances. Alongside Marin Draganja of Croatia, the Romanian player this month had two remarkable achievements. First the two qualified to the Roland Garros doubles semi-finals, an all-time career best for Mergea. Then the pair qualified to the semi-finals of the ATP tournament in Halle, Germany. Following these performances, Mergea has went up in ATP double’s standings to 38th place, again an all-time high for Mergea. Florin is rapidly closing in on the other Romanian player in the world’s top 100 doubles players, namely Horia Tecau, currently ranked 23rd.
