Article by Maria Olteanu – Published on Thursday, 08 January 2026, 07:35 / Updated on Thursday, 08 January 2026 07:36
Sorana Cîrstea (35 years old, 41 WTA) failed to get past the world leader Aryna Sabalenka (27 years old) in the round of 16 of the 500 WTA points tournament in Brisbane. The Romanian lost in a minimum of sets, score 3-6, 3-6, in a game that lasted one hour and 20 minutes.
After he had managed to produce the surprise in the previous phase of the competition and prevail in two sets, 6-2, 7-6 (5), in front of Jelena Ostapenko (28 years, 23 WTA), Sorana did not have the same solid game in front of the world leader, who won her duel on Thursday night without emotions.
Sorana Cîrstea had remained the only player from Romania on the main draw of the Brisbane tournament. Jaqueline Cristian and Gabriela Ruse, the other two Romanian tennis players in the top 100, were eliminated in the inaugural round.
Sorana Cîrstea, eliminated from Brisbane
Net favorite, the player from Belarus left no room for surprises in the match against the Romanian. Sorana got off to a bad start and lost her serve right from the start, but immediately broke and recovered. From 2-2, the game again broke in favor of Aryne, who won once more on the Romanian's serve and broke away.
Until the end of the first round, Sorana lost another game, and the set went to the opponent, after 41 minutes.
The second set of the match had the same history and ended even faster after 39 minutes of play. It went head-to-head until 3-3, at which point Sorana went all out and Sabalenka went three games in a row, sealing the match and qualifying for the quarter-finals of the tournament, where she will meet the winner of the Shnaider – Keys match.
The success against the Romanian was the Belarusian's seventh in a row at the Brisbane tournament, Sabalenka being the champion at the previous edition.
Aryna has excellent results in this competition, reaching the final act in all 3 previous appearances at the tournament, where she lost the finals in 2023 (to Noskova) and 2024 (to Rybakina).
