WTA Rome: Jaqueline Cristian, spectacular qualification in the third round

WTA Rome: Jaqueline Cristian, spectacular qualification in the third round – the Romanian had lost the first set

Jaqueline Cristian qualified for the third round of the “WTA 1000” tournament in Rome, after winning the match in three sets against the Russian Elina Avanesyan (72 WTA), score 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Jaqueline CristianPhoto: Rob Prange/Dppi / Zuma Press / Profimedia

>> Irina Begu, qualified in the second round at WTA Rome

Elina Avanesyan, defeated by Jaqueline Cristian in the second round at WTA Rome

Although she lost in the final of the qualifications, Jaqueline Cristian (68 WTA) reached the second round as a lucky loser, after the withdrawal of the Czech Barbora Krejcikova.

The Romanian started the first set well against Elina Avanesyan, leading 5-3 and giving up two serves, and the Russian won four consecutive games.

After an interruption caused by rain, the second set was won in stride by Jaqueline, after making two breaks.

The decider had the same outcome, although service was again a problem for our player, she made up for it with a return and secured her qualification after almost three hours.

In the third round, Jaqueline Cristian will meet the third favorite of the tournament, the American Coco Gauff.

For the presence in the third round of the tournament, Cristian secured a check worth 30,435 euros and 65 points in the WTA ranking.

WTA Rome takes place between May 7-19 on the clay in the Foro Italico complex. It has total prize money worth $5,509,771 and is part of the “WTA 1000” category. The titular champion is Kazakh Elena Rybakina.

To know:

The Italian competition founded in 1930 was won three times by a Romanian athlete: Ilie Năstase, the 1970 and 1973 editions, and Simona Halep, 2020.

They have also contested finals: Ilie Năstase (1974, defeated by Bjorn Borg), Virginia Ruzici (1978, 1980, 1981) and Simona Halep (2017, 2018, defeated in both cases by Elina Svitolina).