Begu Joins Romanian Charge In Paris

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

PARIS, France – Less than 48 hours after winning the longest match of 2016, No.25 seed Irina-Camelia Begu booked her first career fourth round appearance in Roland Garros with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 win over Annika Beck. With No.6 seed Simona Halep’s third round victory over Naomi Osaka, it marks the first time two Romanians have reached the second week in Paris since 1997.

One of the most consistent forces on clay this season, Begu has had to battle through each of her first three matches – squeaking out wins over Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandewghe to start the week – and it proved no different against Beck, who recovered from losing the first set to force a decider.

“It’s a bit tough because I’ve played all the matches three sets and was longer than two hours,” she told press after the match.

“In the second set I was feeling a little bit down physically, but then I said that I just have to play my game, to be more aggressive, because otherwise I will have no chance.”

“I think I did great in the third set.”

Great would be an understatement; despite losing a long game to begin the final set, Begu roared through the last six, converting the win at love to reach the second week, hitting 36 winners to 18 from Beck in the two hour and five minute contest.

“I’m really happy about my win. Yeah, it was a tough match, but I was prepared for that.

“So I’m just happy that I got through.”

Begu makes up one half of the first Romanian pair through to the second week in Paris for the first time in nearly 20 years, when Irina Spirlea and Ruxandra Dragomir both reached the round of 16 – the latter went on to finish in the quarterfinals.

The Romanian will next play Shelby Rogers, who won an up-and-down 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-0 match against No.10 seed Petra Kvitova.

“She started playing much better in the second,” the American said after reaching the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career. “I was just trying to take it point by point, because if I started to think too much, she for sure would have the advantage there. Just one point at a time, one point at a time.

“I don’t know if I could call that a habit yet, but I hope to create one out of it. That would be nice,” she added with a laugh.

On a day of big upsets, Begu and No.13 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova emerged victorious over their opposition, as the 2009 champion blew past No.24 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-1, 6-4.

When asked how she felt about her win, Kuznetsova countered, “I feel about everything,” and discussed a brief hiccup in the second set.

“I got messed up. I was up – I’m not sure how much, 3-1, 40-15, I guess – and then I was down 4-3. I got tense and started to do weird things instead of playing the game I was playing.

“Then at 4-3 I came back to play long rallies and trying to move her around.”

Source link