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Cirstea shocks Sabalenka to hit new heights

Frank Pingue

Unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea earned the biggest win of her career with a 6-4 6-4 win over Australian Open champion and world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday to reach the Miami Open semifinal.

Cirstea, who has yet to drop a set in Miami and is the last unseeded player in the draw, delivered a stunning performance while taking advantage of some untimely double faults to become only the third person to beat Sabalenka in 2023.

With the win, the 32-year-old Cirstea reached her second WTA 1000 semifinal nearly 10 years after her first.

“I am a bit speechless,” said the world No 74.

“I came out knowing it was going to be a really tough match. Aryna hits so hard, so I knew I had to hold my ground and I am very happy with my performance today and it’s a bit unexpected to be honest.”

When serving for the match, Cirstea fell behind 0-30 and then held steady while saving two break points before finally sealing the win when Sabalenka sent a forehand return long.

Cirstea broke to open up 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 quarterfinal, 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.

On the men’s side, a twohour midmatch rain delay could not cool off sizzling Jannik Sinner, who crushed unseeded Finn Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3 6-1 in their one-sided quarterfinal. The 10th-seeded Italian ripped a backhand return winner to capture the first set and rolled from there to improve to a career 5-0 against Ruusuvuori.

“We both played well today, but I won the important points,” said Sinner.

“It’s never easy when you are up and you get interrupted, but I came back and played well.”

Rain washed out Wednesday’s remaining matches, including a first meeting between world No 1 and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and American Taylor Fritz.

SPORT

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2023-03-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

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