Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva (world No. 82) defeated Alina Charaeva (118), who plays for Armenia, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the WTA-250 Unicredit Iasi Open in the Romanian city of Iasi, reports infohub.kz.
In the first round, Putintseva beat American Claire Liu (111) 7-5, 6-4. Charaeva, making her debut at WTA-250 level, crushed Andorran Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (114) 6-0, 6-1 in her opener. The 24-year-old from Samara, who trains in Spain, is starting her professional journey.
Putintseva's experience and skill, having previously been ranked in the top 20, showed in the first set. She broke her opponent's serve in the opening game and added a second break in the ninth to take it 6-3.
In the second set, Charaeva, who has a height advantage (183 cm vs. 163 cm) and is coached by two-time Australian Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, started aggressively. She immediately broke and led 2-0. However, the Kazakhstani leveled on her fourth break point, moved ahead 4-3, and then broke again. Putintseva converted her second match point to close the match in 1 hour 33 minutes, 6-3, 6-3. She served three aces (to one) and won 68 points to 52.
In the quarterfinals, Putintseva will face the winner of the match between Egyptian Mayar Sherif (97) and Spanish Caitlin Quevedo (100).
Later on the same day, Charaeva will play a doubles match alongside Kazakhstan's Zhibek Kulambayeva (174) against Russians Maria Kozyreva (59) and Elena Pridankina (76).
In the singles qualifying, Kulambayeva lost to Spanish Leyre Romero Gormaz (143) 1-6, 4-6.
The Unicredit Iasi Open, a clay-court event, was first held in 2022. In 2025, it replaced the Hungarian Grand Prix on the WTA calendar and was upgraded to a WTA 250 category. Romanian players have won the singles title three times, except in 2024 when Russian junior Mirra Andreeva won. The 2024 doubles title went to Kazakhstan's Anna Danilina and Russia's Irina Khromacheva.
The 2026 tournament has a prize fund of $283,350. Top seed Romanian Jaqueline Cristian (37) withdrew at the last moment, and Putintseva took her place in the draw.