Romanian-Japanese duo Niculescu/Hozumi advances to women's doubles semifinal at Bad Homburg Open

Romanian-Japanese duo Niculescu/Hozumi advances to women's doubles semifinal at Bad Homburg Open.

Romanian-Japanese duo Monica Niculescu/Eri Hozumi qualified on Wednesday for the semifinals of the women's double event at the WTA 250 tournament in Bad Homburg (Germany) - Bad Homburg Open, with prizes worth 259,303 USD, after defeating 2nd seeds Yania Sizkova (Russia)/Kimberley Zimmermann (Belgium), 6-2, 3-6, 10-8, told Agerpres.

Niculescu and Hozumi secured the victory after one hour and 28 minutes.

Niculescu and her partner led in the super tiebreak 6-3, were tied (6-6), then had 8-6, but the opponents came back (8-8), the Romanian-Japanese couple managed to win 10-8.

Monica Niculescu and Eri Hozumi secured a 3,504 USD cheque and 110 WTA double points.

In the semifinals, Niculescu and Hozumi will face off the winners of the event between Czech pair Miriam Kolodziejova/Linda Noskova and 3rd seeds Tereza Mihalikova (Slovakia)/Makoto Ninomiya (Japan).

Last year the title in Bad Homburg was won by Hozumi and Ninomiya.