Romania's Niculescu, Cristian advance to Prague 125K women's singles second round

Romanian tennis players Monica Niculescu, top seed, and Jaqueline Cristian on Sunday advanced to the women's singles second round at the 3,125,000-US dollar Prague WTA 125K tennis tournament.

In the first round, Niculescu, 32, world number 138, prevailed over Hungarian Panna Udvardy, 21, world number 346, 7-6 (6) 7-6 (4), in two hours and 7 minutes.

Monica's next opponent will be Andrea Lazaro Garcia of Spain, a 25-year-old player ranked 318th in the world.

It took eleventh-seeded Jaqueline Cristian, 22, world number 164, an hour and 29 minutes to beat Frenchwoman Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, 21, world number 257, 6-2 6-2.

In the second round, Cristian will play Latvian Diana Marcinkevica, 28, world number 262, who is up 2-1 in head-to-head matches, all held in 2018.

Compatriot Gabriela Talaba, 25, world number 227, lost on Sunday in the first round to Russian Victoria Kan, 25, world number 220, 6-3 6-3, in one hour and 10 minutes.

Four other Romanians advanced to the second round on Saturday: Elena Gabriela Ruse (will meet Serbian Ivana Jorovic); Irina Bara (will face Australian Seone Mendez); Laura Paar (against Slovak Kristina Kucova) and Alexandra Cadantu (against another Slovak player, Anna Karoline Schmiedlova).

The tournament has a draw of 128, and the players defeated in the first round receive 11,000 US dollars and two WTA singles points, and those who reach the second round secure a check for 18,000 US dollars and 20 WTA points.