Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian qualified on Tuesday for the second round of the WTA 1,000 tournament in Rome, with total prizes of 6,009,593 euros, while Irina Begu lost in the first round.
Jaqueline Cristian (26 years old, no. 74 WTA) defeated American Alycia Parks (24 years old, no. 51 WTA), 6-2, 6-0, after only 61 minutes.
Parks, who committed 7 double faults, won her first match with the Romanian, in 2022, in the round of 16 of the WTA 125 tournament in Angers (France), 6-4, 6-4.
Jaqueline Cristian secured a cheque for 21,215 euros and 35 WTA points, and in the second round she will meet Kazakh Iulia Putintseva, seeded number 23.
Putintseva (30 years old, no. 29 WTA) leads the Romanian in direct matches, 1-0, after defeating her in 2021, in the first round in Portoroz (Slovenia), 6-4, 6-4.
In another match in the first round, Irina Begu (34 years old, no 83 WTA) was defeated by the Czech Petra Kvitova (35 years old, no. 830 WTA), 7-5, 6-1, after one hour and 37 minutes.
Kvitova, who returned in February, after giving birth to her first child, is now 7-1 in direct matches with Begu. In 2015, Kvitova defeated Begu 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals in Madrid, in their first match.
Begu will receive a cheque for 13,150 euros and 10 WTA points.
Also on Tuesday, Anca Todoni (20 years old, no. 91 WTA) was supposed to play in the final round of qualifying, against Russian Ana Blinkova, but the Romanian was forced to withdraw before the match due to a left knee injury.
Todoni won 10,015 euros and 20 WTA points for participating.
Gabriela Ruse managed to reach the main draw of the singles at the Italian Open on Tuesday, after defeating Germany's Laura Siegemund 7-5, 6-2 in the final round of qualifying
Sorana Cirstea will also play in Rome, where she will encounter American player Caroline Dolehide in the first round.
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