Irina Begu, in the third round at WTA Rome after benefiting from two abandonments by her opponents on the same day

Irina Begu should have met Elena Rybakina (the defending champion from Foro Italico) in the second round of WTA Rome on Friday. The player from Kazakhstan retired, and Irina benefited from another abandonment, that of the athlete Oceane Dodin.

Irina BeguPhoto: Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP / Profimedia

Elena Rybakina and Ocene Dodid dropped out, and Irina Begu is in the third round in Rome

Irina had a very strange day at work on Friday: first she found out that she will no longer play against Elena Rybakina (champion at Wimbledon in 2022 and holder of the trophy from Rome), the athlete from Kazakhstan citing medical problems.

“I’m disappointed to have to withdraw from Rome this year, but unfortunately I don’t feel well enough to compete.

I have such good memories from last year and I couldn’t wait to defend my title. Rome is so special to me and I can’t wait to come back next year to claim my title and play in front of the Italian fans,” said Rybakina.

Elena’s place was taken by Oceane Dodin (73rd in the world), the French entering the main draw in Rome as a lucky loser).

However, not much tennis was played, Dodin abandoning after only 29 minutes, when Irina Begu was leading 5-2 in the first set.

Under these conditions, Begu (161 WTA) steps into the third round at the Foro Italico, phase of the WTA 1000 tournament where she will meet another favorite, Elise Mertens (seed 27).

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).