Athlete of the week
Tennis player Dan Alexandru Tomescu
Eugen Nasta, 19.03.2024, 13:49
In the men’s version of Romanian tennis in recent years, men’s run has been dramatically below par as against women’s performance. At the moment, we have three women tennis players among the world’s top 100. Other four have booked their places among the 100th to the 200th position.
In men’s international rankings, best-placed is Nicholas David Ionel, currently 225th-placed according to the world rankings.
Romanian men tennis players’ buoyant run remains something unaccomplished just as yet, so when such a performance does happen, we rush to make it known to our listeners around the world.
A case in point is Dan Alexandru Tomescu, who this past Sunday won the ITF tournament held in Cyprus’ Larnaca; it is an event with 15,000 USD in prize money.
Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Tomescu the Athlete of the week.
In Larnaca, Tomescu was the 4th-seeded tennis player. In the first round, he defeated Estonia’s Markus Molder, 6-1, 6-3. In the second round, Tomescu defeated the Italian opponent who was coming straight from the qualifiers, Iannis Miletich, also 6-1, 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Dan Alexandru Tomescu defeated another Italian, Gianluca Cadenasso, also in two sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Tomescu had a hard time defeating the top-seeded player in Larnaca, Israel’s Ishai Oliel. He won the first set, 6-1, lost the second-5-7, while in the decisive set Oliel and Tomescu reached the tie-breaker. Tomescu eventually managed to be three points clear of Oliel, so he advanced to the final. In the final, Tomescu defeated 2nd seeded player in Larnaca, Germany’s Lucas Gerch, 6-3, 6-4.
Dan Alexandru Tomescu was born in Bucharest on March 30, 1999. According to the world’s professional rankings, Tomescu is currently 645th-placed, 37 positions down as against last week, since the ITF tournaments do not provide points for the ATP rankings. The event in Larnaca was the ITF third such tournament won by Tomescu. In 2023, Tomescu won the Kish Island tournament in Iran, and in Targu Jiu, in Romania, on a clay court, just as in the recently-held tournament in Larnaca.
