Sorana Kirstja made it to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai, our athlete had enough strength to fight back after 0-1 in the sets against the Croatian Donna Vekic. The success (3-6, 6-3, 7-5) takes Sori to 21st place in the WTA rankings, which is the best result in her career.

Set I

The first set lasted 36 minutes, a leg in which Donna demonstrated her aggression from the first plays.

The Croatian (31st WTA rating) served well, shortened Sorana’s reaction time as much as possible (hit the ball from the rise), and her forehand caused a lot of damage in the defense of our athlete.

Vekic showed great confidence from the start and didn’t even give Sorana a chance to break. In addition, the world number 31 was decisive in two games from the comeback, winning the set 6-3.

Set II

Sorana (22 WTA) had to wait until the tenth game to have the first break chance, one unfortunately lost. However, all was not lost, Kirstya made a break in the second case.

However, Sorana did not like the continuation: she immediately surrendered her serve, and Vekic once again took the advantage on the table. However, not for long, because in the rematch, our player found her rhythm, got inspired and ended up leading with a score of 4:2.

Sorana avoided emotions at the end of the set and won the set on her opponent’s serve with a score of 6-3. There were four breaks in total, and three of them went to the Romanian. The set lasted 43 minutes.

Set III

Kirstya started the decisive set on serve and did it correctly. Also, Donna hit the racket after giving up another game on serve (2-0 to Sorana) and was warned by the umpire.

Sorana’s streak reached five games in a row (3-0), and her body language gave away a negative pass that Donna could not get out of.

Many mistakes caused Vekic to yell at her teammates several times, and nervous breakdowns helped her in the following moments.

From 0-3, Vekic restored the tie, also taking advantage of some passivity of Sorana in the attack phase (3-3).

Unfortunately, Kirstya continued to make more and more mistakes and her confidence was shaken. Vekic put a lot of pressure on the rematch, and the break was 4-4.

Horvath served to close the match, but Sorana was inspired and broke through at the last shout. What’s more, Kirstya continued the fast period and won after posting a solid range from the start (6-5).

Vekic could not properly handle the important moment, and Kerstya took advantage (7-5) and qualified for the quarterfinals of WTA Dubai. The match lasted two hours and 15 minutes.

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Know:

• For reaching the quarterfinals in Dubai, Kirstya will receive a check for $72,965 and 215 points in the WTA singles ranking.

• Wednesday’s win helped Sorana Kirstea move up one place in the world rankings to 21, roughly matching her career best (set in August 2013).

• Sorana will fight with the untitled Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova for a place in the semifinals.

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Sorana Kirstea repeated her best ranking in her career – 21st place

Sorana has beaten big names in recent events (Caroline Garcia, Maria Sakkari, Sloane Stevens, Sofia Kenin, Veronika Kudermetova and Donna Vekic) and is ranked 21st in the WTA Live rankings.

Kirstea equaled her best ranking of her career (21st place, she previously held this position in August 2013). In order to make a new jump in the ranking, the Romanians need to reach the finals of the competition in Dubai.

Quarters – 2048 points – 21 WTA

Semi-final – 2223 points – 21 WTA

Result – 2483 points – 15th place in WTA

Champion – 2833 points – 14 WTA.

Sorana Cîrstea, virtual track from WTA Dubai

I round: 6-3, 7-6(2) vs. Sofia Kenin

II round: 6-1, 6-4 against Veronika Kudermetova

Best: 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 with Donna Vekic

Quarter: Marketa Vondrousova

Semifinal: Olena Rybakina / Jasmin Paolini

Final: Iga Svyatek / Coco Gauf / Qinwen Zheng.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships runs from February 18 to 24 on hard, is part of the “WTA 1000” category and has a total prize pool of $3,211,715. Simona Halep won the tournament in 2015 and 2020, and the reigning champion is Barbora Krejcikova.

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