Sorana Cîrstea (22 WTA) will turn 34 on April 7, but she can make a “gift” in advance: reaching the best place in the world ranking at an age when other players have already retired!
Sorana Cîrstea is the best player in Romania, currently, in the WTA hierarchy
The athlete born in Târgovişte was very close to this performance, in Dubai, last month. She is basically just one win away from surpassing the WTA No. 21 ranking that she first achieved in August 2013. The good news is that the Dubai Tennis Championships 2024 allowed Sorana to make the final adjustments to her game before “double” of this month, called “Sunshine double“. We are talking about the Indian Wells (March 6-17) and Miami (March 19-31) tournaments where, last year, Cîrstea caused a stir! Here's the numbers: In 2023, “Sori” reached the quarterfinals in California at Indian Wells, accumulating 215 points. To then advance to the semi-finals, in Miami, receiving 390 points.
So now Sorana has a total of 605 points to defend at “Sunshine double“. And, after the draw for the tournament at Indian Wells, the Romanian can get an impression of what awaits her, in an attempt to repeat a long journey, just like last year. Here are the opponents that can get in the way of “Sori”. With the specification that it will start directly in the second round from the number 19 seed position:
*Round I: bye
*Round II: Stephens (44 WTA) / Sherif (70 WTA)
*Round III: Avanesyan (63 WTA) / Dodin (85 WTA) / Kasatkina (12 WTA)
*Optimum: Zheng (8 WTA) / Yuan (49 WTA) / Dolehide (51 WTA) / Azarenka (30 WTA)
*Quarters: Samsonova (15 WTA) / Osaka (287 WTA) / Wang (42 WTA) / Mertens (28 WTA)
At Indian Wells, two other Romanians also entered the competition: Jaqueline Cristian (25 years old, 82 WTA) and Ana Bogdan (31 years old, 65 WTA). Unfortunately, the first was eliminated after the first round of qualifications: 3-6, 5-7 with Storm Hunter (Australia, 29 years old, 124 WTA). Ana Bogdan, on the other hand, will perform in the first round on the main draw. Where a duel awaits her with Diana Shnaider (Russia, 19 years old, 74 WTA). The winner will meet Maria Sakkari (Greece, 28 years old, 9 WTA) in the second round.
“Sori” needs three wins
Returning to Cîrstea, in the live ranking, updated in real time, she has already lost the points accumulated last year, at Indian Wells. There are now 2,018 points to its right. If he gets three wins on the board and advances to the round of 16, there is a good chance that Sorana will reach a new peak in his career. Because she would accumulate 2,138 points, a total with which, at this moment, she would occupy the 20th place in the WTA.
