Dutch-Romanian team advances to Australian Open semifinals

Romanian tennis player Horia Tecau (left) and Dutchman Jean-Julien Rojer qualified in the men’s doubles semi-finals of the Australian Open. The Dutch-Romanian team defeated the Romanian-British duo Florin Mergea/Dominic Inglot 6-4, 7-6 (3), on Wednesday, January 28. Mergea and Inglot had surprisingly qualified to the quarter finals by eliminating Americans Bon and Mike Bryan, the best men’s doubles tennis players in the world. In the semi-finals, Tecau/Rojer team will meet Italian tennis players Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini, on Thursday. The Italian duo defeated Pablo Cuevas/David Marrero with a score of 7-6, 7-6. For qualifying in the tournament’s semi-finals, Tecau and Rojer have secured a prize of over EUR 100,000. Tecau is the only Romanian who made it to the semi-final stage of the competition this year. Romanian tennis star Simona Halep was eliminated in the quarter finals of the Australian Openby Russian Ekaterina Makarova. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Jean-Julien Rojer Facebook page, courtesy of Zimbio)