Sorana Cirstea’s ultimate season has been crammed with memorable moments: a title on house soil in Cluj-Napoca, a doubles crown in Linz final week, and 4 High 20 singles wins.
The great occasions continued for the Romanian in Rouen, France.
Cirstea, who plans to retire on the finish of the 2026 season, booked her second semifinal of the 12 months—and notched her twentieth win—with a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over Hungary’s Anna Bondar.
“It was a really robust match. Anna is a superb opponent, very robust,” Cirstea mentioned after the win. “I’m very pleased with the consequence. I’m glad I completed in two units, as a result of that first set, the tiebreak, is at all times tough. Once more, I’m very completely satisfied to be right here tonight and to have one other alternative to return again tomorrow.”
Cirstea struck 36 winners in opposition to 33 unforced errors and saved 4 of 5 break factors within the 99-minute contest.
She held an early break benefit within the opening set, however Bondar responded, saving a set level whereas serving at 5-6 earlier than finally falling within the tiebreak.
Within the second set, Bondar fell behind 2-0 however confirmed resilience, saving six break factors to remain inside attain. She earned triple break level at 3-2, however Cirstea reeled off 5 consecutive factors to carry, then pulled away—profitable 13 of the ultimate 15 factors to seal the match.
The second seed will face Ukrainian qualifier Veronika Podrez within the semifinals.
“The objective is to achieve the ultimate and hopefully win, however proper now the precedence is the following match,” Cirstea mentioned.
Within the prime half of the draw, prime seed Marta Kostyuk will tackle Tatjana Maria.
Kostyuk edged fifth seed Ann Li, 6-0, 6-7(4), 6-3, whereas Maria defeated Iryna Shymanovich, 7-6(5), 6-2.
All 4 semifinalists are making their event debut in Rouen.
