Unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea has earned the largest win of her profession with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Australian Open champion and world No.2 Aryna Sabalenka to achieve the Miami Open semi-final.
Cirstea, who has but to drop a set in Miami and is the final unseeded participant within the draw, delivered a surprising efficiency on Wednesday whereas benefiting from some premature double faults to turn into solely the third individual to beat Sabalenka this yr.
With the win, the 32-year-old Cirstea reached her second WTA 1000 semi-final – almost 10 years after reaching her first.
“I am a bit speechless,” mentioned the world No.74. “I came out knowing that it was going to be a really tough match.
“Aryna hits so laborious, so I knew I needed to maintain my floor and I’m very, very pleased with my efficiency at present – and it’s kind of surprising to be sincere.”
When serving for the match, Cirstea fell behind 0-30 but then held steady while saving two break points before finally sealing the win when Sabalenka sent a forehand return long.
Cirstea broke to open the match but Sabalenka dropped just three points across her next three service games before breaking the Romanian to draw level at 4-4.
But Cirstea, who arrived in Miami fresh off a run to the Indian Wells quarter-final, held firm against Sabalenka’s power and broke right back before sealing the first set in emphatic fashion with an ace.
The Romanian broke to start the second set when Sabalenka double-faulted at 30-40 and then held to love for a 2-0 lead but the Belarusian briefly turned up the heat and looked to have found her way before letting it slip.
Sabalenka, a runner-up at Indian Wells, squandered a break point chance while leading 3-2 and then double-faulted while facing a break point in the next game as Cirstea went ahead 4-3 and never looked back.
Cirstea will face both Czech fifteenth seed Petra Kvitova or 18th-seeded Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova within the semis.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
