Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu, who had not played singles for two years, defeated American Katrina Scott 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 on Friday in the first round of the draw qualifiers main event of the WTA 1,000 tournament in Guadalajara (Mexico), worth USD 2,788,468, write Agerpres.

Niculescu (35 years old) needed an hour and 33 minutes to pass Scott (19 years old, 307 WTA). The Romanian had not played a singles match since September 2021, from the qualifications in Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan).

In the preliminary second round, Niculescu will face the main favorite of the qualifiers, the American Ann Li (23 years old, 156 WTA). Monica won her only head-to-head match with Li in 2018 in the first round at Indian Wells, 6-3, 6-0.