Romanian tennis player Patricia Tig qualified on Wednesday for the second round of the WTA tournament in Miami (Florida), with prizes worth 6,993,450 US dollars, after she defeated British Heather Watson, with a score of 7-6 (4), 6-1.
Tig (aged 22, WTA's 95th) came form qualifications and managed to defeat Watson (aged 24, WTA's 108th) in one hour and 24 minutes.
The event was also the preamble of the face off between Romania and the UK, in the tie-break for the World Cup II of the Fed Cup.
Tig is for the first time in the second round of a WTA Premier tournament and secured a 22,325 US dollar cheque and 65 WTA points, but she will have a very strong opponent in the next round, namely Kristina Mladenovic (France) 22th seed.The two of them met only once, in 2015, in Wuhan, in the first round when the player from Hexagon defeated Tig with a score of 6-1, 6-4.
Also on Wednesday Sorana Cirstea won against Olympic champion Monica Puig (Puerto Rico), 6-2, 6-4. Simona Halep, third seed, will play straight in the second round against Japanese Naomi Osaka, as well as Irina Begu, 28th seed, who will face Lara Arruabarrena (Spain).