Premium
Romanian tennis player Irina Bara defeated French player Oceane Dodin 7-5, 6-7 (3), 7-5, on Monday, in the first round of qualifiers for the main singles draw of the WTA 250 tournament in Melbourne (Melbourne Summer Set 2), with total prizes of 239,477 US dollars, agerpres reports.
The Romanian secured a check for 1,950 USD and 12 WTA points, and will play in the last qualifying round against Russian Ana Kalinskaia (23, 111st in the WTA), who defeated Christina McHale 7-5, 6-1. (US). Bara and Kalinskaya will meet for the first time in the singles event.
Two Romanians entered the main draw directly, Irina Begu will play in the first round against the American Jessica Pegula, the main seed of the tournament, and Sorana Cirstea, seed number five at Melbourne Summer Set 2, will face Russian Varvara Graceva.
In the doubles competition, Irina Bara is paired with Ekaterine Gorgodze (Georgia), who will make their debut against Viktorija Golubic (Switzerland) / Astra Sharma (Australia). Irina Begu plays alongside Nina Stojanovic (Serbia), the number three seeds to play in the first round against Ana Kalinskaia (Russia) / Marta Kostiuk (Ukraine).
Simona Halep and Gabriela Ruse, who will play in the singles event in the Melbourne Summer Set 1 tournament, will pair in the Melbourne Summer Set 2, for the match with the second seeds, Bernarda Pera (USA) / Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic).
