Romanian tennis player Marius Copil on Friday qualified to the main draw of the men’s singles event at the grass court Wimbledon tournament, the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, after defeating Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4, in a qualifier.
Copil, 25, ATP’s 174th, had not met Fabbiano, 27, ATP’s 114th, before.
For the first time in his career on the main draw of the Wimbledon tournament, Copil is expecting a tough meet with N. 32 French Luicas Pouille, 22, ATP’s 29th. For his performance so far, Copil won 30,000 British pounds and 35 ATP points.
In the last qualifying round for the women’s doubles, Romanians Andreea Mitu/Patricia Maria Tig lost to Chinese Chin-Wei Chan/Xinyun Han, 6-2, 6-2.
While Copil is the only Romanian tennis player on the men’s singles draw, competing for Romania in the women’s singles event are five players: N. 5 Simona Halep (to play Anna Karolina Schmiedlova); N. 25 Irina Begu (to play Carina Witthoeft); Monica Niculescu (to play Aleksandra Krunic); Sorana Cirstea (to play N. 10 Petra Kvitova), and Patricia Tig (to play N. 20 Sara Errani). More…