One of the most important matches in her career is waiting for Sorana Kirstea. The 33-year-old athlete is one win away from the semifinals of the US Open 2023. There are eight players left who must fight for the Arthur Ashe trophy in New York.

What you need to know about Sorana Kirstya’s match with Karolina Mukhova

• According to the program announced by the organizers, the match between Sorana Kirstea and Karolina Mukhova (10th favorite) will be the first in the evening session on Wednesday at the Arthur Ashe Arena.

• The match will start at 2:00 (Romanian time). Live broadcast of the match on Eurosport and LiveBLOG on HotNews.ro.

It is important to clarify: among the eight athletes who remained in the main draw from New York, there is no Iga Sviatek, the WTA leader, who is sent home by the amazing Jelena Ostapenko.

In the absence of the Pole, Aryna Sabalenko (the future world number one) is the heavy favorite among the specialists to win the trophy, but the US Open has shown us, at least in recent years, that it is the Grand Slam with the most surprises.

US Open 2023 Women’s Quarterfinals Schedule

Olena Ostapenko (20) vs. Coco Gauf (6) / 1-1 direct matches

The American won the first direct meeting (Linz, 2019), but the Latvian took revenge at this year’s Australian Open (7-5, 6-3). Ostapenko made the surprise of the tournament in Flushing Meadows by knocking out Igu Svyatek in the round of 16.

Jelena is a Grand Slam winner (Roland Garros 2017, after the final with Simona Halep) and can beat anyone on a good day. He has an established way of playing: either on the ball or in the hospital. A lot of winning shots, but also unforced errors.

If she can maintain a balance between winning shots and unforced errors, Ostapenko will have a good chance against the home favorite.

Sorana Kirstea (30) vs. Karolina Muchova (10) / 1-3

Sorana and Karolina have met four times on the world circuit, and the athlete from the Czech Republic has a 3-1 advantage. It is interesting that three such matches took place this year (2-1 in favor of Mukhova).

Karolina is going through a great period of her career (after struggling with injuries), she was a finalist at Roland Garros (she also eliminated Irina Bega on the way to the final).

If she has her serve on her side again (it was an important weapon against Belinda Bencic) and her inner calm is at a high level, Sorana will have the game she needs to overcome the tenth favorite and check the most important result of her career.

Marketa Vondrousova (9) vs. Madison Keys (17) / 0-0

The reigning Wimbledon champion and the 2017 US Open finalist have never met on the women’s stage before. They will do so in a high-stakes quarterfinal matchup at Flushing Meadows. We are, of course, talking about Marketa Vondrousova and Madison Keys.

We will have two different styles: on the one hand, the Czech has a varied style, especially good left-handed corners, and the balls over the net will come with a lot of power, as she has been used to … throughout Madison’s career.

Marketa has shown over time that she can play against much stronger opponents from a physical standpoint, but it remains to be seen what kind of day Keys will catch as well. The American has a serve that can make the difference on a good day and a forehand that can do a lot of damage to opposing defenses.

If Vondrousova can constantly disrupt her opponent’s rhythm and force her to hit outside of her comfort zone (as much as possible bypass her along the baseline and bring her to the net in shorts), then the athlete from the Czech Republic has an open path to qualifying for the semifinals in New York.

Qinwen Zheng (23) against Aryna Sabalenko (2) / 0-0

At least in theory, the most one-sided match in the quarterfinals is Zheng – Sabalenka. The athlete from Belarus is a heavy favorite, but it remains to be seen how the future WTA leader will handle the pressure of the moment (she will climb to the top regardless of the result she registers in Flushing Meadows).

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