Romania's Cirstea advances to Wimbledon Championships ladies' singles second round

Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea on Monday advanced to the ladies' singles second round of the Wimbledon Championships 2018 grass court event, the third grand slam tournament of the year, after defeating 19th seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 7-5 6-3.

Cirstea, 28, world number 51 WTA, prevailed over passed Rybarikova, 29, world number 19 in an hour and 29 minutes, turning around the score after being led 3-5 in the first set.

Their head-to-head count is now 3-2 favouring Cirstea. Cirstea win the 2008 Tashkent Open semi-final as Rybarikova dropped out after the first set (6-3), with Sorana going on to win her only singles title in the WTA circuit. The Slovakian defeated Cirstea in the 2017 quarter-finals of the Linz Open 5-7 6-2 6-1.

Cirstea won 63,000 British pounds and 70 WTA singles points. Her next opponent will be Russian Evgeniya Rodina or German Antonia Lottner.

There are seven more Romanians competing in the ladies' singles event: top seed Simona Halep; 29th seeded Mihaela Buzarnescu; Irina Begu, Monica Niculescu, Ana Bogdan, as well as qualifiers Alexandra Dulgheru and Elena-Gabriela Ruse.