Alison Van Uytvanck

Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea qualified, on Friday, for the final of the 250,000-dollar WTA tournament in Tashkent (Uzbekistan), after defeating Katarina Zavatska (Ukraine) in the next to last act, by 6-0, 6-3. Cirstea (29 years old, WTA #96), seeded eighth, will play her second final in Tashkent, after conquering there her only singles' title in her career, in 2008.

Romanian tennis player Patricia Maria Tig won the 125,000-USD Karlsruhe Open tournament on Sunday, after defeating Belgian Alison van Uytvanck 3-6 6-1 6-2 in the final. Tig, 25, world number 223, who continues the climb to the top 100 rankings, prevailed in one hour and 38 minutes over second seed Alison van Uytvanck, 25, world number 65.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, world number one, on Thursday advanced to women's singles the third round of the 7,972,535-USD Miami Open tournament after defeating France's Oceane Dodin 3-6 6-3 7-5.

In a decisive encounter from Group I Europe/Africa of the Fed Cup on Friday, Bulgaria lost its two singles matches against Belgium.

Thus Bulgaria missed the opportunity to qualify for the play-off and compete for promotion to an upper group.

The highest ranking Bulgarian female tennis player Tsvetana Pironkova was defeated by Alison van Uytvanck with 2:6, 4:6.

Romanian tennis player Andreea Mitu (23 years of age) qualified for the fourth round of Grand Slam Tournament of Roland Garros, after having defeated Italian Francesca Schiavone in two sets, 7-5, 6-4, in a match carried out in Paris, on Saturday.

World number ones Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams showed no mercy in powering through to the Australian Open second round Jan. 20 as unseeded dark horse Victoria Azarenka won her grudge match.
      
Defending men's champion Stan Wawrinka, Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori and women's fourth seed Petra Kvitova also stayed on course.
      

The TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup started with the first round games yesterday, with Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski advancing to the second round.

Jovanovski, the seventh-seed in the tournament, beat Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck in three sets to advance to the second round.