Irina-Camelia Begu, Sorana Cirstea advance to the second round – XXIV SNAI Open
It was a very lucky day for the Romanian tennis fans as Irina-Camelia Begu and Sorana Cirstea both have posted awe-inspiring wins to reach the second round of the tournament, being played here at Palermo, Italy.
Irina-Camelia Begu continued her smooth progress to reach the second round of the tournament, beating Maria Elena Camerin of Italy in straight sets 6-2, 7-5.
The 20-year-old cemented her authority on the first-round match from the off and cruised through the match in straight sets before Camerin could take it to the tie-breaker.
Although the home hope had given her fans a lot of disappointment in opening round of the tournament, she still could not have made a better start here yesterday, offering a great deal of resistance to higher ranked opponent in
the second set.
Camerin is 29 but a relative novice at the tournament who never made it past the second round in her prior six attempts here at Palermo, Italy.
It was not surprising then that she looked totally on pins and needles but, after saving a couple of break points to get on the board, she looked heavily armed with deadly weapons.
Camerin, the world number 114, was facing the Romanian player for the very first time in her career and was all-confident before entering the courts but when Begu stepped up the pace in the twelfth game to clinch the second set,
she was left with no answers.
Begu was hitting the ball as deeply as she did in the first set that had helped her winning four games in a row, but as soon the second set progresses towards the business end, Camerin stepped up a level, trading blow for blow
with the world number 60 and holding her serve with much ease.
Begu was beginning to look frustrated that she could not finish the match off, but the breakthrough she needed came in the twelfth game thanks to an untimely Camerin double-fault, and there was no way back for the Italian.
By virtue of winning the opening round in straight sets, she now moves on to face second-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy in the second round of the tournament.
Also, Sorana Cirstea of Romania reached the second round of the tournament, beating Andrea Hlavackova of Czech Republic in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 and setting up a clash with the sixth-seeded Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria in the
second round of the tournament.
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