Number 2 favorite for the title, Sorana Cîrstea qualified in the “eighties” in Rouen, after an extremely complicated match

Sorana Cîrstea moved to Rouen after a great week in Austria, in Linz, where he won the doubles title alongside Shuai Zhangand reached the “quarters” in singles, being defeated by Mirra Andreeva (18 years old, 9 ATP), who would award her the trophy.

Sorana Cîrstea received an excellent reply from the French Fiona Ferro

In the inaugural round, the Romanian had as her opponent Fiona Ferro, a French woman outside the top 200 places in the WTA ranking. Although it was announced to be an easy match, it was not like that at all, and Cîrstea had great emotions for qualifying for the round of 16.

The two opponents went head to head until 3-2, when Sorana broke and closed the opening set, 6-3, in 36 minutes. The 36-year-old player had an excellent start to the second sequence as well, she managed two breaks and led 4-1.

Ferro did not give up the fight, made the re-break and stopped the good period of the world number 26. Lacking pressure, the 29-year-old tennis player played better and better, and the match got complicated for Cîrstea.

At 5-5, the top-ranked player from Romania made the break, but then failed to make her serve and the set went into a tie-break, where Ferro played better, sending the duel to the decider.

After wasting two match points and being tied at 5-2, Cîrstea closed the match in a tie-break

Cîrstea was once again the tennis player who took the initiative, a key moment being at the score of 4-2. She came back from 15-40 down, won the game and came close once again to victory. In game 8, Sorana defended Ferro's 5 game balls, but missed two match points.

The Frenchwoman pulled off another stunning comeback and sent the deciding set into a tie-break. After almost two hours and 30 minutes of play, Cîrstea found the necessary energy to dominate these overtimes and secured 5 more match balls.

The Romanian made good on the second one and prevailed 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), qualifying for the round of 16 of the tournament in Rouen. The number 2 favorite for the title did not make any gesture of joy, but shook hands with Ferro and greeted the audience.

Sorana Cîrstea: “I played here for the first time when I was 8 years old, at an U10 tournament”

It was only at the interview that Sorana smiled, declaring that she was happy for the victory and revealing that, at the age of 8, she won an international tournament right in Rouen.

“I am very, very happy and relieved for the win. I think it was incredible, she played amazing. It was a match of a fantastic level. I am very grateful and happy to be here for the first time”, said Cîrstea.

“Yes, I played here for the first time when I was 8 years old in an U10 tournament. So yes, I won a tournament here in Rouen and it was my first international tournament. I was a kid,” she added.

In the next phase, Cîrstea will meet Xinyu Wang (24 years old, 32 WTA)who went through two qualifying rounds and defeated Chloe Paquet (31 years old, 241 WTA) in the opening round, score 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Interestingly, in all three matches played in Rouen, the Chinese woman lost one set each.

Jaqueline Cristian (27 years old, 33 WTA) also qualified for the round of 16 of the Rouen tournament. She had part of a crazy duel with Tiantsoa Sarah Rajaonah Rakotomanga (20 years old, 135 WTA)saving several match points and winning 2-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5.

Tonight, in the last game on center court, Cristian will play against the British Katie Boulter (29 years old, 64 WTA) for a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament in Rouen.