Article by Daniel Grigore – Published on Wednesday, 04 February 2026, 19:01 / Updated on Wednesday, 04 February 2026 19:01
Convincing performance by Sorana Cîrstea (35 years old, 36th WTA), who narrowly defeated Tamara Zidansek (28 years old, #153 WTA), 6-1, 6-0, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Transylvania Open, the WTA250 category tournament held in Cluj-Napoca.
FINALS » Tamara Zidansek – Sorana Cîrstea 1-6, 0-6
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range and set Sorana, 1-6: an excellent first set by Sorana, who played aggressively, hitting precisely and with power, speculating on every hesitation of the opponent. 1-6 after only 24 minutes!
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break Sorana, 1-3: Cîrstea breaks away, after an excellent return range. And the service has worked very well for him so far.
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Time 18:07 – Start of the match, Sorana serves first.
It is only the second direct duel between Zidansek and Cîrstea. They have met before at Roland Garros 2021, with the Slovenian winning in straight sets, 7-6 (4), 6-1.
Both players won in two sets the matches of the first round in Cluj-Napoca, Sorana with 6-4, 6-4 against Kamillei Rakhimova (ranked 93 WTA), Tamara with 6-1, 6-4 against Veronika Erjavec (#103 WTA).
At her career best in February 2022, Tamara was ranked 22nd in the world. It came after her sensational run at Roland Garros 2021, where she stopped in the semi-finals after also knocking out Sorana along the way.
For Sorana, this is the last participation in the Transylvania Open, as she chose to retire at the end of this competitive year.
