After brilliantly qualifying for the main draw of the WTA 1000 Masters in Madrid, Diane Parry continued this afternoon by easily defeating the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.
This time we can say it, Diane Parry is back. Already in good form for the qualifying tournament at the Masters 1000 in Madrid, the Maralpine confirmed her good form today. Facing Irina-Camelia Begu (34 years old, world No. 75), the player from Nice made no mistakes. Yet, the Romanian is a renowned clay court player. Lacking results since the beginning of the year, like the Azuréenne, Begu’s only advantage was having defeated Diane Parry in the quarterfinals in Palermo in 2022, on clay.
Except things have changed since then. Gaining confidence on the court, Diane Parry is returning to her best level. An impression shared by her coach before the start of the tournament. “Diane really deserves it. I am super happy to see her just playing because she was sad when she was only half on the court. She is finally starting to feel like a tennis player again,” confided her coach Martin Vilar.
With another match like yesterday against Elisabetta Cocciaretto, there’s reason to smile. Once again, Diane Parry led from the front in this match. Unlike past weeks where she started her matches poorly, the player from Nice broke right from the start to lead 3-0. Despite a break back at the end of the first set, Diane Parry responded perfectly by breaking back and then closing out the first set (6-3).
Consistent on her serve, she didn’t allow Irina-Camelia Begu to settle into the match. She once again made the difference thanks to an opportunistic break at the start of the second set. Without giving the Romanian any chance to come back, she managed her match perfectly. The Azuréenne dictated the exchange with her style of mixing long and short balls… And it pays off.
Diane Parry won her first round at the Madrid Masters 1000 with ease, (6-3/6-4) in a little over 1 hour and 30 minutes. Positive as it is now necessary to string together some victories. In the second round, she will face the Russian Anna Kalinskaya (26 years old, world No. 29). A new step to take against a Top 30 player.
The match is scheduled for tomorrow.