Sorana Kirstya’s adventure at the WTA 500 tournament in Adelaide was short: the Romanian was defeated in three sets by Jelena Ostapenko, an athlete who has a Grand Slam title.

Sorana KirsteaPhoto: COREY SIPKIN/AFP/Profimedia

Sorana Kirstea, defeat by Jelena Ostapenko at the WTA in Adelaide

Kerstia (WTA 26) started the match better and won the first set 6-2, but she was unable to maintain the rhythm and Ostapenko (WTA 12, favorite 6) won the next set 6-2, 6-4.

Athlete from Latvia, champion of Roland Garros 2017 (after final with Simona Halep) won after two hours of play.

The match provided a large number of aces for women’s tennis: 13 (7 from Sorana). Also, our athlete made 8 double faults (3 against Latvia), and Yelena was much better in winning shots (43 – 22).

At the end of the match, Ostapenko explained why she lost the first set: “I fell asleep because I’m not a morning person.”

Know:

  • Elena leads with a score of 4-1 in head-to-head matches with Sorana. The Romanian’s only victory came at Wimbledon 2023. They are friends and have played in doubles several times.
  • In the next round, Jelena Ostapenko will beat Caroline Garcia (20 WTA).
  • For being in the main draw in Adelaide, Sorana Kirstea will receive $8,860 and a single point in the WTA ranking.
  • Romania has one more representative in Adelaide: Ana Bohdan (66 WTA, lucky loser) will play in the 1/8 finals with Laura Siegemund (89 WTA).

Adelaide International (Australia) takes place from January 8 to 13 on hard. He has a total prize money of $922,573 and is a member of the “WTA 500”. The last champions are Esheli Barty (2020, 2022), Iga Sviatek (2021) and Belinda Bencic (2023).