The first matches of the third edition of the Transylvania Open were played on Saturday in the qualifying draw, where the top favorite is the Turkish player Ipek Oz.
In fact, with the exception of Dalila Jakupovic, the fourth seed, and Valentini Grammatikopoulou, the fifth seed in the qualifiers, all the favorites advanced today in Cluj: Ekaterina Makarova, Valeriya Strakhova, Martha Matoula, and Anastasiya Soboleva qualified for the second round of qualifiers, and on Sunday they will compete for the four spots that can take them to the main draw.
Ipek Oz won in straight sets against Quinn Gleason, 6-4, 6-2. Martha Matoula stopped Mara Gae after a balanced and intense match, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2, while Strakhova and Makarova eliminated Ilinca Amariei and Briana Szabo in two sets each.
Among the Romanian players present in the qualifiers, the only one who has reached the second round is Ilona Ghioroaie, as her opponent, whom she was supposed to face, made it to the main draw due to the withdrawal of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Ghioroaie is, therefore, qualified for the second round after her match against Indian player Ankita Raina was canceled, with Raina moving on to the main draw.
The last qualifying matches are as follows: Ghioroaie vs. Strakhova, Oz vs. Matoula, Makarova vs. Bandecchi, Heisen vs. Soboleva.
