Athlete of the week

Florin Orban, 08.03.2022, 12:02

The WTA women’s circuit schedule last week included a tennis tournament in
Lyon, an event with 193 thousand Euros up for grabs. The Romanian tennis player
Sorana Cîrstea was 2nd-seeded and succeeded
to honor her status, reaching as far as the tournament’s semifinal. Sorana’s
feat earned her a better position according to the WTA rankings. Reason enough
for Radio Romania International to designate Sorana
Cirstea the Athlete of the week.

Had she succeeded to play the final in Lyon, according
to the world rankings Sorana Cirstea would have been able to outclass Simona
Halep, who for quite a few years now has been Romania’s best-placed tennis
player. For Sorana Cirstea, the main draw in Lyon looked accessible. In the
first three matches Sorana did not lose a single set. Her trail in Lyon
included wins against Georgia’s Mariam Bolkvadze, Stefanie Vögele of Switzerland
and Hungary’s Anna Bondar. However, in the semifinal, Sorana Cirstea faced 21-year-old
Ukrainian challenger Dayana Yastremska. We recall that in 2019 Yastremska was a
whisker away from earning a place among the world’s top 20 women tennis players.
In the first round, Yastremska succeeded a hard-fought win against another
Romanian, Ana Bogdan, since her opponent wasted the opportunity to secure her
win with a match ball. It took the Ukrainian three sets to overpower Sorana
Cirstea. Yastremska won the match, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. Sorana got 8,145 Euros and 110
WTA points, climbing four notches up according to the WTA rankings, from the 31st
to the 27th-place. Simona Halep is 26th-placed according to the same
rankings.

Sorana Cîrstea was born in the southern Romanian town of Targoviste on
April 7th, 1990. She turned pro in 2006. The same year she came in
348th according to the WTA rankings. So far Sorana Cirstea has won a
WTA tournament, in Taskent, in 2008, and another one in Istanbul, in 2021. Sorana
Cirstea’s best WTA ranking position occurred in August 2013, when she was 21st-placed.
A rather difficult period followed for the Romanian, but in recent years Sorana
braced up and succeeded to regain the excellent shape she used to be in. According
to the WTA website, Sorana’s net worth as a tennis player amounts to almost
seven million dollars.

(EN)