Sorana Cîrstea continues to be Romania’s best player, ranking 69th in the world, even if she is not going through a good period.
Sorana Cîrstea had not played since July 1, 2024. Photo EPA EFE
The tennis player returned to the court after a 5-month break caused by a surgical intervention, but the debut in the new season was not right. The 34-year-old 4th player was decisively defeated by Germany’s Jule Niemeier (89 WTA), who prevailed 6-4, 6-2 after one hour and 18 minutes in the first round of qualifying for the WTA 500 tournament in Adelaide (Australia).
It was the 7th defeat in a row of our player, who has not achieved a victory since the beginning of May last year, when she beat Marketa Vondrusova 7-6, 6-3 on the clay in Rome. A series of failures followed, against Keys, Linette, Blinkova, Zhu, Kalinina and Kartal, after which Sorana decided to undergo surgery and end the season prematurely. Now he is back in tennis under the guidance of his new coach, Sven Groeneveld, but still with a loss.
Sorana Cîrstea is going to play at the Australian Open
Also in the qualifications of the Adelaide tournament, two other Romanians performed. Irina Begu (79 WTA) got past Kaylah McPhee (379 WTA) 6-2, 6-2 and is set to meet Leylah Fernandez (31 WTA) in the main draw qualifier. Instead, Jaqueline Cristian (85 WTA) was defeated by Kamilla Rakhimova (60 WTA) 1-6, 7-5, 6-2, in two hours and three minutes of play.
For Sorana Cîrstea, who announced that she can retire at the end of this season, she will participate in the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.
