Romania's Simona Halep, number three in the WTA rankings, and Irina-Camelia Begu made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open tournament.

Simona Halep qualified after a 6-4, 7-5 victory on Friday over American player Bethanie Mattek-Sands.  In the next round, Halep will face Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer. Simona Halep and Yanina Wickmayer met three times before, the Romanian losing all three matches.

Another Romanian player advanced to the fourth round of the tournament. Irina-Camelia Begu, number 42 in the WTA rankings, beat German tennis player Carina Witthoeft in two sets 6-4, 6-4. She will next face Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, no. 7 WTA.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com