Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, 6th WTA, defeated 70th WTA Japanese Nao Hibino, 6-2, 6-0 on Monday in 43 minutes to reach the second round of the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, Roland Garros.
Also on Monday, Irina Begu advanced to the second round of the women’s singles event at the French Open 2016 after defeating US Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.
Begu, 25, WTA’s 28th, won all her five previous meets with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 31, WTA’s 86th. This was their second consecutive match at Roland Garros. Begu’s first win over Mattek-Sands was at the 2012 quarter-finals at Linz, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2; in 2014 she won in the round of 16 of the Rio tournament, 6-2, 6-4; in 2015, she won the 1st round at Roland Garros, 6-4, 7-6 (6) and another win was in the second round of the 2016 Charleston tournament, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
For their performances so far, Begu and Halep have won EUR 60,000 and 70 WTA points.
In the second round, Begu will have a hard time playing Coco Vandeweghe (USA), 24, 43rd WTA.
The third Romanian tennis player who played on Monday, Alexandra Dulgheru, lost to Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, 6-1, 6-3.
Two more Romanian female players will compete in the opening round on Tuesday: Sorana Cirstea against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, and Monica Niculescu, 31st WTA, against French Pauline Parmentier.