The Romanian pair of Andreea Mitu and Raluca Olaru advanced to the second round of the Australian Open women's doubles event after defeating fellow nationals Monica Niculescu and Patricia Tig on Wednesday in Melbourne in a match that lasted two hours and 14 minutes, according to AGERPRES.
In the second round, Mitu and Olaru will face the winners of the match between 13th seeded Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukraine)/Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) and Makoto Ninomiya (Japan)/Sabrina Santamaria (US).
Mitu and Olaru secured a check for 45,000 Australian dollars and 130 WTA doubles points, while the losing pair won 30,000 AU dollars and 10 WTA points.
Romania has another three players in the women's doubles fray.
Singles second seed Simona Halep will pair with 16-year old Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz of Australia to face off the Australian duo Arina Rodionova/Storm Sanders in the first round.
Romanian Irina Begu and Argentina's Nadia Podoroska will play in the first round Darija Jurak (Croatia)/Nina Stojanovic (Serbia). Begu was defeated on Monday by Stojanovic in the first round of the singles event.
Mihaela Buzarnescu will partner with Ankita Raina of India against Australian pairing Olivia Gadecki/Belinda Woolcock in the first round.