Romania's Niculescu advances to 2nd round at WTA tournament in Miami

Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu qualified on Thursday for the second round of the WTA tournament in Miami (Florida), with prizes worth 9,035,428 US dollars, after defeating, in two sets, Slovenian Tamara Zidansek, with a score of 6-1, 6-2, according to Agerpres.

Niculescu (aged 31, WTA's 138th), who came form qualifications, managed to defeat her opponent in less than one hour, thus ensuring a cheque worth 26,430 US dollar and 65 WTA points. In the next round, she will face off Spanish Garbine Muguruza, 20th seed, who was exempted from the first round.

Monica Niculescu had previously played against Muguruza (aged 25, WTA's 17th) in 2016, in the round of 16 in Linz, where the Spanish player defeated Niculescu with a score of 6-1, 6-1.

US Taylor Townsend will be Simona Halep's opponent in the second round, after she surpassed Swedish Johanna Larsson with a score of 6-1, 6-2. Halep and Townsend (aged 22, WTA's 96th) met twice before, with the Romanian national winning each time with 6-4, 6-1 in 2017 in the second round of Cincinnati, and 6-3, 6-1 last year in the second round at Roland Garros.