17-year-old Štefanija Bojka reached the final qualifying round of the tournament in Dubai (WTA 1000), defeating Danka Kovinić (63rd in the world).

tennisPhoto: Adrian Ilincescu/ HotNews.ro

Stefania Bozhika (17 years old) defeated Danka Kovinich

Ranked 831 in the WTA rankings, Bojka defeated the Montenegrin player (the 4th seed in the qualifiers) 6-3, 7-6(2) after an hour and 40 minutes of play.

Stefania will fight for entry into the main draw of the competition with the winner of the match between Katarina Zavatska (Ukraine, 277 WTA) and Madison Brengle (USA, 81 WTA).

Bohika made her debut on the WTA tournament on February 5 in the qualifiers of the tournament in Abu Dhabi. The owner of the wild card, our athlete, played very well against the American Claire Liu, but lost in two sets with the score 7-6(3), 6-1. After the match, Stefania posted a message on Instagram.

“It was an incredible experience to play my WTA debut (against the world number 52) in the country where I was born and raised.

I well remember Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and many other top players competing in this arena. And to actually play on the same field is a dream. I will keep this moment close to my heart.

However, this is not the end! I still have a lot to learn and work hard to achieve even higher goals” – Stefania Bozhika.

Know:

  • Legalized by CSA Steaua, Stefania Boika was born and raised in the United Arab Emirates and trains at CF Tennis Academy.
  • In 2015, Bohika accompanied Simona Halep on the court in the final of the tournament in Dubai (6-4, 7-5 against Karolina Pliskova).
  • Ana Bohdan (76 WTA, favorite 7) also represents Romania in the qualification of the Dubai tournament, who will meet the Frenchwoman Clara Burel (105 WTA) in the first round.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships runs from February 19 to 25 on hard, is part of the “WTA 1000” category and has a total prize pool of $2,788,468. Simona Halep won the tournament in 2015 and 2020, and the last edition went to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.

Check out this Instagram post

A post shared by Stefania Bojica (@stef_bojica)

Check out this Instagram post

A post shared by Stefania Bojica (@stef_bojica)