A great result for Soumeya and Julia who have now reached the SF
QF: Soumeya Anane/ Julia Kimmelmann (GBR/GER) [3] 1973 (992+981) beat Gabriela Ana Maria Davidescu/ Alexandra Maria Staiculescu (ROU/ROU) [WC] 2212 6-4 6-3
Soumeya and Julia's SF opponents put out the top seeds today and are much stronger than they look at first. Mitu has a singles CH 68 and doubles CH 69, but was out for a year from May 17 to May 18 and must have lost her rankings in that time. I would expect the Romanians to be heavy favourites here.
SF: Soumeya Anane/ Julia Kimmelmann (GBR/GER) [3] 1973 (992+981) vs Cristina-Andreea Mitu/ Oana Georgeta Simion (ROU/ROU) [WC] (UNR) (UNR+429)
[...] Mitu has a singles CH 68 and doubles CH 69, but was out for a year from May 17 to May 18 and must have lost her rankings in that time.
Mitu gave birth to her first child in December 2017, hence her absence (as told, and illustrated, in this Romanian interview)
If she'd have managed things properly, it seems she should have been eligible for SR; perhaps the low level return is by choice. Certainly not someone you'd hope to face in a lowly, far flung $15K doubles round.
[...] Mitu has a singles CH 68 and doubles CH 69, but was out for a year from May 17 to May 18 and must have lost her rankings in that time.
Mitu gave birth to her first child in December 2017, hence her absence (as told, and illustrated, in this Romanian interview)
If she'd have managed things properly, it seems she should have been eligible for SR; perhaps the low level return is by choice. Certainly not someone you'd hope to face in a lowly, far flung $15K doubles round.
Mitu had an SE into the singles having reached the final last week. Now she's reached the QF there this week, meaning she is now on 9 pts, and so needs one more win tomorrow to regain her singles ranking. She played one 15k tournament in May this year, losing in the first round, then perhaps decided she was trying to return to the tour prematurely, so last week was her delayed second tournament back. I guess being Romanian this is it. She has to manage her come back through these Romanian 15k events, not having many other options, and it would seem a young baby at home too. There's one more 15k in Bucharest next week into which she's also entered and after then her ranking should be up and running again.