First Round Upset! Three Seeded Pairs Eliminated at Cluj-Napoca

As is well known, seeded players exist in all singles and doubles events on the tour. Generally, these seeds have higher world rankings and stronger skills. Because of this, they usually progress further in the tournaments. However, exceptions always occur. This week, several seeded women’s doubles teams were knocked out in the opening round. So, who were these pairs? Who defeated them? And what has been their performance in the 2026 season so far? Today, this article will take you through the details.

Norwegian player Eikeri and Belgian player Kempen were the top seeds in the WTA250 Cluj-Napoca doubles event. Before this week, Eikeri had partnered with Estonian Neel and suffered back-to-back losses at the WTA500 Adelaide and the Australian Open. Although Kempen exited in the first round of the Australian Open, she previously reached the doubles final at the WTA250 Hobart event with Russian partner Shishkova. Because of this, Eikeri and Kempen teamed up for the doubles tournament, hoping to end their losing streak.

In the first round’s opening set, they held their service games against the Chinese pair Zheng Saisai and Wang Xinyu and reached a tiebreak. During the tiebreak, despite leading, Zheng and Wang were repeatedly attacked by Eikeri and Kempen, who took the first set. However, in the second set, Eikeri and Kempen made several errors, allowing Wang and Zheng to seize the opportunity and win 6-4, pushing the match to a deciding set. In the final set, Wang and Zheng kept up their momentum and overturned the match, defeating the seeded team to advance with a hard-fought victory.

Russian Kozyeva and Belarusian Shymanovich, who won four consecutive matches in early January and claimed the doubles title at the Canberra Challenger, were the second seeds at the WTA250 Cluj-Napoca. Their first-round opponents were the Slovenian duo N Radisic and Jakupovic. However, due to various reasons, Kozyeva and Shymanovich announced their withdrawal before the match.

Chinese players Tang Qianhui and Yuan Yue were the fourth seeds in the WTA250 Cluj-Napoca doubles event. This was Yuan Yue’s first doubles tournament of the 2026 season. Meanwhile, Tang Qianhui had suffered three consecutive defeats this season and notably had changed partners three times since early January. Yuan Yue was Tang’s fourth doubles partner this season.

In the first round, Tang Qianhui and Yuan Yue faced the Romanian pair Cristian and Ruse. Despite their best efforts, Tang and Yuan were swept aside 4-6, 3-6. Among the seeds, only the third seeds, Spanish player Soler and Uzbek player Soler, won their opening match convincingly. That’s the tennis story for today; more to come tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Yixin Jushi)