Tennis: Irina Begu qualifies for the semifinals of the Szekesfehervar tournament (ITF)

Romanian tennis player Irina Begu qualified on Friday for the semifinals of the ITF tournament in Szekesfehervar (Hungary), equipped with total prizes worth 100,00 US dollars, after defeating Italian Jasmine Paolini, 7-6 (7), 6-2. 

Irina Begu (29, WTA's 111), seed no. 4, defeated the Italian (23, WTA's 119) opponent, seed no. 7, in 1 hour and 46 minutes of playing. 

Begu will play the semifinals against a player from Paraguay, Veronica Cepede Royg (WTA's 140, 27 years old), who defeated Italian Martina Trevisan in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-0. 

Begu and Cepede Royg met four times before, and they both scored two victories and two loses. Begu defeated Royg in the first two matches, in 2014, in Rio, in the round of sixteen, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, and in Campinas (Brazil, ITF, 25,000 US dollars), 6-2, 6-2, in the quarterfinals. The South American player won in 2014 at Medellin (Colombia, ITF, 50,000 US dollars), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, and in 2018, in the round of sixteen of the Acapulco tournament, 7-6 (3), 6-1.