Tennis: Irina Begu qualifies for round of sixteen of Gippsland Trophy tournament (WTA)

Romanian tennis player Irina Begu on Tuesday qualified for the round of sixteen of the Gippsland Trophy (WTA) tournament in Melbourne, with 565,530 dollars in prizes, after defeating Belarus Aleksandra Sasnovici, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Begu (30 years old, WTA's 79) defeated Sasnovici (26 years old, WTA's 90) at the end of a match that lasted two hours and 35 minutes, after winning in the previous round after a marathon match of two hours and 45 minutes. Irina Begu had won her only previous meeting with Sasnovici, in 2015, in the final of the WTA tournament in Seoul, 6-3, 6-1. In the round of sixteen, Begu will face British Johanna Konta (29 years old, WTA's 14), seed no. 5, who defeated American Bernarda Pera 6-2, 6-3 in the previous round. Begu secured a cheque of 5,500 dollars and 55 WTA points. Konta won the only match against Begu, in 2020, in Rome, in the second round, 6-0, 6-4. AGERPRES (RO-author: Mihai Tenea, editor: Mihai Dragomir, EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)