After defeating American Ann Li 6-3, 6-4, Romanian tennis player Irina Begu advanced to the semifinals of the WTA 250 tournament in Palermo, Italy, on Friday. She was awarded a total of 232,244 euros in prizes.
It took one hour and forty-five minutes for 2022 champion Irina Begu (33, 142 WTA) to win, according to agerpres.ro.
Thus, in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Tenerife Open, the Romanian exacted revenge on the twenty-four-year-old American Ann Li (127 WTA), who had defeated her 7-5, 7-5.
The second favorite, Czech Karolina Muchova (27 years old, 35 WTA), will face Begu in the penultimate act after the Australian Astra Sharma was defeated 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (8/6). Begu obtained a check for 10,100 euros and 98 WTA points.
Muchova is a player that Irina Begu has faced directly twice; she won 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of Roland Garros in 2019 and 6-4, 7-5 in the second round of Madrid in 2023. Begu is 2-1 against Muchova in these matches. In 2023, Muchova won 6-3, 6-2 at Roland Garros in the third round.
In the quarterfinals, the main favorite, 21-year-old Chinese Qinwen Zheng (7th WTA), defeated 26-year-old Jaqueline Cristian (66th seeded) 6-1, 6-1 in 72 minutes.
Up until now, the Romanian athlete has won both of his direct matches: 6-3, 6-2 in Rome (ITF), during the first round in May 2019, and 6-1, 6-4 in Palermo, during the round of 16. in 2021.
54 WTA points and 5,750 euros were won by Jaqueline Cristian.
Zheng will play the fourth-seeded Frenchwoman Diane Parry in the semifinals. Parry defeated her countrywoman Chloe Paquet 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.