Other Romanians to look out for - Ungur, Buzarnescu, Andrei, Damaschin
Instead of posting a new cheering thread for each Romanian, we'll keep track of them all here until they do enough to earn their own thread (something I don't feel Dabija or Begu has done yet, but to each his own).
Eva Still she earned the first WTA point of her young career :yeah:
Well I guess if Karola gets help from the irish TA she'll have to start representing Ireland. Will be a bit weird tho considering all the times I saw her on fb saying how much she doesn't like it there and wishes she was home in Braila
Karola made the SF this week in Sharm. Impressive win today, coming back after losing the first set and winning two TB's. My first thought was to say she's clearly not romanian anymore, too much of a mental giant.... but then I saw the point-by-point and the absolute mess it was. She won on her 18th MP :haha: :haha:
Ioana played a couple of 10k's last year in Antalya and another one in 2012... but this is basically the start of her Pro career. Hopefully it's going to be a long and successful one, despite this initial loss
10,000$ Heraklion F9 (GRE), R32
(Q)Mariana Drazic (CRO) d. (wc)Ioana Diana Pietroiu (ROU) 62 63
Karola Bejenaru didn't have the best start to the year, lost in qualifying in 10k Stuttgart (to be fair a very, very strong 10k)... however at the end of last year "local girl" won the irish national indoor championships.
Sportface
FAIR PLAY - Durante le Prequalificazioni degli Internazionali BNL d'Italia Bianca Turati rimane a terra in preda ai crampi sul 4-4 al tie-break del terzo set. Interviene il direttore del torneo Sergio Palmieri e, soprattutto, Michelle Zmau, avversaria di Bianca... (match poi ripreso e vinto 7-6 al terzo dalla Zmau)
British since Scotland, Northern Ireland & Co do not compete separately in tennis . Think that's a good move on Karola's part. We have promising juniors and most of them struggle with funding. Hopefully it will be easier to get local sponsors if she starts representing her current country.
Also, never got around to update this with Michele Alexandra Zmau's run to the semis in singles & doubles title in Tunisia two weeks ago. Baby zmeoaica is playing well these days
10k Hammamet (TUN) F18 May23 MD
(8)Karoline Kurz (AUT) d. (LL)Kristina Kostic (SRB) 61 60
(Q)Zoe Bourbotte (FRA) d. (Q)Nicole Baloescu (CAN) 75 64
(wc)Darya Chernetsova (BLR) d. Camille Cheli (FRA) 76(6) 60 Michele Alexandra Zmau (ROU) d. (4)Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND) 67(4) 75 55 Ret. (over 3.5 hours )
R16
(8)Karoline Kurz (AUT) d. (Q)Zoe Bourbotte (FRA) 61 61 Michele Alexandra Zmau (ROU) d. (wc)Darya Chernetsova (BLR) 62 61
Quarterfinal: Michele Alexandra Zmau (ROU) d (8)Karoline Kurz (AUT) 60 63
Semifinal: (Q)Natalija Kostic (SRB) d. Michele Alexandra Zmau (ROU) 63 61
Ioana finishes her SES stay with another final. A bit sad she didn't win today, had a very good chance after not dropping a set the whole week Curios if she keeps playing, for some reason I see her as a prime candidate for a US college :shrug:
Ioana is back in Sharm Last week she made another final, not dropping a set before being defeated in the final in three by Sliusar.... but this week she finally did it and won the title
10,000$ Sharm El Sheikh F28 (EGY)
R32: Ioana Diana Pietroiu (ROU) d. (Q)Jawairiah Noordin (MAS) 41 ret
R16: Ioana Diana Pietroiu (ROU) d. (7)Alice Bacquie (FRA) 63 61
QF: Ioana Diana Pietroiu (ROU) d. (2)Zuzana Zlochova (SVK) 63 63
SF: Ioana Diana Pietroiu (ROU) d. (Q)Mitsumi Kawasaki (JPN) 64 63
F: Ioana Diana Pietroiu (ROU) d. Anhzelika Isaeva (RUS) 62 64