Armenian tennis stars Elina Avanesyan and Alina Charaeva have both reached the Round of 16 of the WTA 250 UniCredit Iasi Open in Iasi, Romania, each winning her opening match on the same day, reports Zartonk Sports.
Avanesyan led the way with a straight?sets victory over Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima, 6?2, 6?4, while Charaeva delivered a dominant win over Andorra’s Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, the world No. 114, 6?0, 6?1, in her first tournament competing under the Armenian flag, where she will next meet Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.
Avanesyan, the world No. 224 and fifth seed, controlled her Round of 32 contest against the world No. 108, breaking serve repeatedly and never surrendering the initiative, closing out the win in 1 hour and 27 minutes. The result improved her career head?to?head record over Uchijima to 3?0.
Avanesyan reached the main draw the hard way, coming through qualifying with wins over Germany’s Emily Seibold and Romania’s Irina Fetecau before dispatching Uchijima. The 23?year?old, who reached the Iasi final in 2024, has long counted clay among her strongest surfaces and enjoyed a productive 2026 that included a title run in Zagreb. For a place in the quarterfinals, she will face Croatia’s Petra Marcinko, the world No. 45, who advanced by beating Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska in her opening match.
A Growing Armenian Presence
Avanesyan represents a growing presence for Armenia on the women’s tour. Born in Pyatigorsk, Russia, to a family with roots in Artsakh, she formally took Armenian citizenship in 2024 and has competed under the Armenian flag ever since, becoming the highest?ranked women’s player in the nation’s history when she reached No. 36 in the world in March 2025.
Charaeva, the world No. 118, recently obtained Armenian citizenship of her own, with the tournament in Iasi marking her first competing for Armenia.
With both players now into the Round of 16, Avanesyan continues her bid for a strong result at the 2026 UniCredit Iasi Open, which carries a total prize pool of $283,347, where she reached the final two years ago.
Together, the pair mark a widening Armenian footprint in women’s tennis, carrying the nation’s colors deeper into the professional ranks.
