Cirstea stuns Sabalenka to reach Miami Open semis

31 March, 2023

MIAMI       -       Unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea earned the biggest win of her career with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Australian Open champion and world number two Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday to reach the Miami Open semi-final. Cirstea, who has yet to drop a set in Miami and is the last unseeded player in the draw, delivered a stunning performance while taking advantage of some untimely double faults to become only the third person to beat Sabalenka this year. With the win, the 32-year-old Cirstea reached her second WTA 1000 semi-final nearly 10 years after reaching her first. “I am a bit speechless,” said world number 74 Cirstea.

“I came out knowing that it was going to be a really tough match. “Aryna hits so hard, so I knew I had to hold my ground and I am very, very happy with my performance today and it’s a bit unexpected to be honest.” When serving for the match, Cirstea fell behind 0-30 and then held steady while saving two break points before finally sealing the win when Sabalenka sent a forehand return long. Cirstea broke to open the match but Sabalenka dropped just three points across her next three service games before breaking the Romanian to draw level at 4-4. But Cirstea, who arrived in Miami fresh off a run to the Indian Wells quarter-final, held firm against Sabalenka’s power and broke right back before sealing the first set in emphatic fashion with an ace.

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The Romanian broke to start the second set when Sabalenka double-faulted at 30-40 and then held to love for a 2-0 lead but the Belarusian briefly turned up the heat and looked to have found her way before letting it slip. Sabalenka, a runner-up at Indian Wells, squandered a break point chance while leading 3-2 and then double-faulted while facing a break point in the next game as Cirstea went ahead 4-3 and never looked back. Cirstea will face either Czech 15th seed Petra Kvitova or 18thseeded Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semis. On the men’s side, a two-hour mid-match rain delay could not cool off sizzling Jannik Sinner, who crushed unseeded Finn Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3 6-1 in their one-sided quarter-final. The 10th-seeded Italian ripped a backhand return winner to capture the first set and rolled from there to improve to a career 5-0 against Ruusuvuori.

“We both played well today but I won the important points,” said Sinner. “It’s never easy when you are up and you get interrupted, but I came back and played well.” Rain washed out Wednesday’s remaining matches, including a first meeting between world number one and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and American Taylor Fritz. That match will be held during the evening session on Thursday, weather permitting.

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