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Romanian captain Florin Segarceanu and his French counterpart Julien Benneteau have decided to make changes in the second singles match in the Romania-France Fed Cup semi-finals, so Irina Begu replaced world number 83 Mihaela Buzarnescu, while world number 53 Pauline Parmentier replaced Kristina Mladenovic.
After the first three singles matches, Romania lead France 2-1.
The head-to-head count shows Irina Begu tied with Pauline Parmentier 3-3, with Begu's last wins in Bucharest in 2017 (7-5 6-0) and New Haven (6-2 7-6 ) in 2012, and a defeat in 2018 in Istanbul (3-6 4-6).
Begu's nomination for the last singles match implies that Romania's doubles team will be made up of Monica Niculescu and Raluca Olaru, subject to a possible last-minute introduction of Simona Halep alongside Niculescu.
In the first singles matches on Saturday at Kindarena in Rouen, Halep defeated Kristina Mladenovic 6-3 6-1, and Caroline Garcia prevailed over Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3 6-3. In the first singles faceoff on Sunday, world number two Halep defeated world number 21 Caroline Garcia 6-7 (6) 6-3 6-4 in tow hours and 57 minutes.
The winner of the Rouen semi-final will face Australia in the Fed Cup final scheduled for November 9-10.
The France-Romania semi-finals are played on a hard court at the Kindarena Sports Palace in Rouen, with a capacity of 4,976 seats, according to information provided by organisers. Team France consists of Alize Cornet, Caroline Garcia, Pauline Parmentier, Kristina Mladenovic and Fiona Ferro, while team Romania is made up of Simona Halep, Mihaela Buzarnescu, Irina Begu, Monica Niculescu and Raluca Olaru.
In the quarter-finals of the Fed Cup World Group, Romania beat defending champion Czech Republic 3-2 thanks to the points scored by Halep, who won both singles matches, and Irina Begu / Monica Niculescu, while France prevailed 3-1 over Belgium.
Romania face France for the second time in the Fed Cup competition. The first time it was in the 1976 consolation round final in Philadelphia, when Romanians Virginia Ruzici and Florenta Mihai defetaed team France 3-0.
AGERPRES
