Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu qualified in straight sets for the second round of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, after having defeated Brazilian player Teliana Pereira, 6-2, 6-1, in the opening round.
Niculescu (28 years-old, WTA No. 40) claimed victory in one hour and 15 minutes in the match against Pereira (27 years-old, WTA No. 46), and now leads the head-to-head 2-0.
For the victory Niculescu received 60,000 Australian dollars and 70 WTA points and is due to face in the second round the winner of the match between Elizaveta Kulichkova (Russia) and Andrea Petkovic (Germany, WTA No. 22).
On Tuesday other four Romanian players will make their debut at the Australian Open in the women’s singles competition: Simona Halep (WTA No. 2) vs. Shuai Zhang (China), Irina Begu (WTA No. 29) vs. Johanna Larsson (Sweden), Alexandra Dulgheru vs. Storm Sanders (Australia) and Andreea Mitu vs. Julia Gorges (Germany). More…