Kazakhstan’s 26-year-old tennis player ZhQibek Kulambayeva, partnered with Armenia’s Alina Charaeva, reached the WTA-250 doubles semifinals in Iasi, Romania, for the first time in her career, reports infohub.kz.
In the quarterfinals, the Kazakh-Armenian duo defeated Spain’s Georgina Garcia Perez and Russia’s Alevtina Ibragimova 6:2, 7:5. The first set was a confident win thanks to a fast start: Kulambayeva and Charaeva scored two breaks to lead 3:0. The second set was tougher: their opponents came back twice, but Kulambayeva and Charaeva secured the decisive break in the 11th game. The match lasted 1 hour 16 minutes, with no aces served, and points won were 61:46 in favor of the winners.
In the semifinals, Kulambayeva and Charaeva will face the top seeds — Belgium’s Magali Kempen and Russia’s Alexandra Panova. For both players, reaching the WTA-250 semifinals is a historic achievement.
In singles, former Russian Charaeva, who has been representing Armenia since July and trains in Spain, lost to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 3:6, 3:6. Kulambayeva, meanwhile, lost in singles qualifying to Spain’s Leyre Romero Gormaz 1:6, 4:6.
The Unicredit Iasi Open has been held on clay courts since 2022. In 2025, it replaced the Hungarian Grand Prix on the WTA calendar and was assigned a 250 category. In singles, local players have won three times, except in 2024 when Russia’s Mirra Andreeva triumphed. The 2024 doubles title went to Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina and Russia’s Irina Khromacheva.
The prize fund for the 2026 Unicredit Iasi Open is $283,350. The top seed, Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian, withdrew at the last moment, and her spot in the draw was taken by Yulia Putintseva.