Gabriela Ruse advanced to the second round of qualifying at the WTA 250 tournament in Auckland, defeating Anna Danilina in straight sets.

Gabriela Ruse is close to the WTA main draw in Auckland

The second seed in the New Zealand qualifiers, Gabriela needed one hour and 32 minutes to win 6-3, 6-3.

Danilina (829 WTA) led in both sets with a break (0-3 and 0-2), but Ruse (128 WTA) came back each time, winning twice in return.

Anna is better known for her doubles results, ranking 56th in the WTA rankings (the highest was 10th).

The representative of Kazakhstan (she played for Russia under the age of 15) in 2023 collected only 11 singles matches (2 wins and 9 losses) and occupies the 829th position in the world ranking (the highest is 269 in 2020).

Know:

• Gabriela Ruse will play Jules Niemeyer for a place in the main draw after beating Australia’s Elysia Bolton (674 WTA) 6-3, 6-4.

• Niemeyer had a very successful 2022 season (quarters at Wimbledon and eighth at the US Open), but the German failed to impress again in 2023 and reached a WTA ranking of 165.

• Romania already has a representative at the main table in Auckland. Jacqueline Christian (89 WTA) will beat China’s Xia Wang (70 WTA) in the first round.

ASB Classic in Auckland (New Zealand) takes place from January 1 to 7 on hard. It has a total prize pool of $267,082 and is part of the “WTA 250”. The last champions are Serena Williams (2020) and Coco Gauff (2023).