Athlete of the Week on RRI – Tennis player Laura Ioana Paar

Laura Ioana Paar has won her first WTA title in the women's doubles

Florin Orban, 10.03.2020, 13:45

Romanian tennis player Laura Ioana
Paar on Sunday won her first WTA title in the women’s doubles competition at
the Lyon tournament, totaling some 275 thousand dollars in prize money. Laura
and Julia Wachaczyk of Germany won 7-5, 6-4 against Lesley Kerkhove and Bibiane
Schoofs of the Netherlands. For her achievement in Lyon, we have designated
Laura Ioana Paar Athlete of the Week.

In Lyon, the Romanian-German pair
eased past the top favorites Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany and Mandy Minella of
Luxembourg, 6-4, 4-6, 10-6. In the quarterfinals Paar and Wachaczyk knocked out
Elixane Lechemia and Jessika Ponchet of France, 6-2, 4-6, 10-6. In the
semifinals they edged out Vitalia Diatchenko and Natela Dzalamidze of Russia,
6-3, 6-1. Laura Ioana Paar and Julia Wachaczyk will be awarded an
11-thousand-euro check and 280 WTA points.

Laura Ioana Paar was born in
Bucharest on May 31, 1988. Prior to last year she played only in ITF
tournaments. In 2019 she made her debut in the WTA circuit in Nurnberg,
entering the main draw. In the first round of the qualifying phase she knocked
out another Romanian, Raluca Serban. The tournament in Lyon was the first Laura
enrolled in the women’s doubles. The win has made her climb 88 positions in the
doubles standings, where she is now ranked 113th, her career best.
In the singles, Laura is ranked 203rd. The highest position in the
singles was 200th, which she held in February this year. (Translated
by V. Palcu)