Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva (82) successfully started the WTA-250 tournament in the Romanian city of Iasi. In the first round, the Kazakh tennis player defeated American Claire Liu (111) – 7:5, 6:2. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
In the first set, the tennis players constantly exchanged breaks – 5:4. This unusual generosity was possible due to the lack of a strong serve from both players. Receiving was easier for both Yulia and Claire than serving. In the 12th game, serving for the set, Putintseva failed to convert seven set points. Only on the eighth attempt, after performing 19 (!) serves in the game, she achieved her goal – 7:5.
In the next game, Liu performed 13 consecutive serves, and the second racket of Kazakhstan made a routine break. After that, repelling all the opponent's attempts to respond, she won her serve in the fifth game. And confirmed the break – 5:1. The result – 7:5, 6:2 in 2 hours 7 minutes. Aces – 1:0, total points won – 84:72.
In the second round, Putintseva will play against Alina Garaeva (118). The 24-year-old former Russian, playing for Armenia, crushed Victoria Jimenez-Kasintseva from Andorra (114) 6:0, 6:1 in the first round. In doubles, Garaeva partnered with our Zhibek Kulambayeva (464), who earlier lost in the singles qualifying to Spanish Leyre Romero Gormaz (143) – 1:6, 4:6.
In the first round, Garaeva (862) and Kulambayeva (174) will face Russians Maria Kozyreva (59) and Elena Pridankina (76).
The tennis Unicredit Iasi Open appeared recently – in 2022. In 2025, the clay tournament in Iasi took the place of the Hungarian Grand Prix in the WTA calendar and received the '250' category.
Local tennis players have won the singles title three times. Except for 2024, when young Russian star Mirra Andreeva triumphed. The doubles title then went to the duo of Anna Danilina (Kazakhstan) and Irina Khromacheva (Russia).
The prize fund of Unicredit Iasi Open-2026 is $283,350. The first seed is Romanian Jaqueline Cristian (37).