The 2018 Shenzhen Open tournament will see an all-Romanian semifinal on Friday, January 5, as both Simona Halep and Irina Begu qualified for the next stage on Thursday, January 4.

Irina Begu was the first to qualify for the semifinal, after a 7-5, 7-5 victory against Hungarian Timea Babos. Then, Simona Halep, who is No.1 in WTA's singles ranking of best female tennis players in the world, defeated Belarusian Arina Sabalenka in a two-set match that ended 6-2, 6-2.

Irina Begu is also Simona Halep’s teammate in the doubles competition at Shenzhen. They will also play the semifinal against the Russian/German duo Ana Blinkova-Nicola Geuer on Friday.

The Shenzhen Open tournament in China will end on January 6. It has total prize money of over USD 626,000.

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Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Shenzhen Open on Facebook)