​Sorana Kirstya reached the second round of WTA Dubai (category 1000), and the match with Beatrice Haddad Maia became the longest so far in the 2023 season.

Kirstea vs Haddad Maia, longest match in WTA in 2023

Our athlete staged a fantastic comeback, saved two match points and turned the fate of the decisive match 4:1 in favor of Haddad Maya.

The opening round match in Dubai lasted three hours and 29 minutes, making it the longest match of the 2023 WTA tournament.

Kirstea and Haddad Maia have climbed to the top of the marathon match hierarchy this season in the women’s singles.

“I wasn’t planning on breaking the record, but Beatrice was in really good shape and I knew she was a great fighter. I think it’s tennis where all the work pays off. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if it’s the first round or the final, the joy is the same” – Sorana Kirsteaquoted by the WTA.

The longest WTA matches in the 2023 season

• 1 Sorana Kirstea vs. Beatrice Haddad Maia (4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5) / 3 hours 29 minutes / WTA Dubai

• 2 Lyudmila Samsonova vs. Paula Badosa (6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-5) / 3 hours 22 min. / WTA Dubai

• 3 Martina Trevisan vs. Maria Sakkari (6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5) / 3 h. 14 min. / United Cup

• 4 Beatrice Haddad Maia against Yulia Putintseva (6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(4)) / 3 hours 13 minutes / WTA Abu Dhabi

• 5 Laura Siegemund vs. Irina-Camelia Begu (5-7, 7-5, 6-3) / 3 hours 12 minutes / Australian Open.

Know:

• In the second round in Dubai, Sorana will meet Karolina Mukhova (112th WTA ranking). This will be the first direct match.

• Romania still has a women’s singles representative from WTA Dubai: Ana Bohdan.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships runs from February 19 to 25 on hard, is part of the “WTA 1000” category and has a total prize pool of $2,788,468. Simona Halep won the tournament in 2015 and 2020, and the last edition went to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.