Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu qualified on Thursday to the semifinals of the Hobart WTA tournament (Australia) featuring 226,750 dollars in prize money, after defeating Japanese player Risa Ozaki, by 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Niculescu (29 years old, #40 WTA) won in two hours and 4 minutes, ending a difficult match against an adversary that came from qualifications.
Ozaki (22 years old), 100th in the world ranking, started the round very well and led by 2-0 but then Monica bounced back and reestablished a 2-2 tie. At 3-3, the third seed of the Tasmanian tournament pushed forward to a break, consolidated afterwards (5-3) when saving two break points. Ozaki carried out her service (5-4) but Niculescu closed the final set by 6-4, after 63 minutes.
The Romanian benefited from a 9-minute medical break in-between sets.
In the second round, Monica Niculescu dominated the game and took control at 4-0, but couldn't hold on to the lead until the end and Ozaki gathered point after point, reaching 4-4, with 11 consecutive points of the Japanese (two white games in a row), who had three chances of 5-4. Niculescu roared back and managed to get the break and closed the match by 6-4.
The Romanian had 23 winners, as compared to her adversary's 12, but also made a lot of unforced mistakes, 54 (as compared to the 32 of the Asian). It should be noted that Monica had a 93 percent success rate at the first service in the field.
Niculescu ensured a 11,300 dollar check for herself and 110 WTA points and will face off, in the next to last match, against Ukrainian player, Lesia Tsurenko (27 years old, #71 WTA), who defeated the American Shelby Rogers in the quarterfinals by 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Monica won the first match with Tsurenko so far, in 2011, in the qualifications for the Indian Wells, by 6-2, 6-3.
Monica Niculescu holds two Hobart titles, both in doubles' events, in 2012 (teamed with Irina Begu) and in 2014 (teamed with Klara Koukalova).
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