Sorana Cirstea becomes oldest semifinalist at Dubai Tennis Championships

Cirstea broke Venus Williams record to top chart

Sorana Cirstea, the 33-year-old Romanian, made history by becoming the oldest player to reach the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships since its inception in 2001. She pulled off a stunning comeback against the reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the quarterfinals, saving six match points.

Cirstea, ranked 22nd in the world, was down a set and 5-1 against the eighth-ranked Czech, but fought back to win 2-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 in two hours and 40 minutes. She clinched the second set in a tiebreak, which shifted the momentum in her favor. The Bucharest native advanced to her first semifinal at the desert tournament.

She will face Jasmine Paolini, another debutant in the last four, on Friday. The Italian, who came through the qualifying rounds last year but lost to Madison Keys in the opening round, reached the semifinals after Elena Rybakina withdrew from their quarterfinal match due to a stomach-related illness. Paolini, who is unseeded, had upset the eighth seed Maria Sakkari in the previous round.

33&321 – Sorana Cirstea (33 years and 321 days today) has become the oldest player to make the semi-finals at the Dubai Tennis Championships since the inception of the tournament in 2001. Indefatigable.#DDFTennis | @DDFTennis @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/icY7xs5pLq

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) February 22, 2024

Anna Kalinskaya also made it to her first semifinal and main draw appearance in Dubai, after upsetting two top-ten players in consecutive days. The Russian qualifier stunned the ninth-ranked Jelena Ostapenko in the round of 16 on Wednesday, and followed it up with a 2-6 6-4 6-2 victory over the second seed Coco Gauff on Thursday.

Gauff, the American sensation, suffered her second early exit in a row, after losing in the second round at Doha. Her ten-match winning streak was snapped by Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the 2024 Australian Open.

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With the elimination of Gauff, Rybakina and Vondrousova, Iga Swiatek is the only seeded player left in the draw. The world number one from Poland cruised past Qinwen Zheng 6-1 6-2 in less than 90 minutes, extending her head-to-head record against the Chinese to 6-0. Swiatek, who won the Doha title for the third time in a row last week, is aiming to become the first woman to complete the Doha-Dubai double since Justine Henin in 2007.

Swiatek will meet Kalinskaya in the semifinals, in a clash between the Australian Open finalists. Swiatek defeated Zheng, who was the runner-up in Melbourne, in the quarterfinals. The winner of this match will face the winner of the other semifinal between Cirstea and Paolini in the final on Saturday.

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