Tennis: Sorana Cirstea loses in second round in Rome (WTA)

Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea was defeated by Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, on Friday, in the second round of the WTA 1,000 tournament in Rome, with total prizes of 3,572,618 euros.

Cirstea (aged 33, the 34th in the WTA), who was coming after the WTA 125 title won in Reus (Spain), was defeated after two hours of play.

The two players shared their periods of dominance, the Romanian imposing herself in the second set. Cirstea managed 3 aces, but also committed 5 double faults in this match.

Ostapenko (25 years old, the 20th in the WTA) won all three direct matches with Sorana, the first two dating from 2017, in the second round at the US Open and in the quarterfinals in Beijing, each time with 6-4, 6-4.

Also the other three Romanians lost in Rome in the second round, on Thursday, Irina Begu, Ana Bogdan and Gabriela Ruse.

In doubles, Ruse and the Ukrainian Marta Kostiuk will play in the first round against the pairs Tereza Mihalikova (Slovakia)/Alycia Parks (USA), and Monica Niculescu and the Japanese Makoto Ninomiya will play against the pair Leylah Fernandez (Canada)/Taylor Townsend (USA).