LIVE Sorana Cîrstea – Coco Gauff, in the semifinals of the WTA tournament in Rome » “Duel of fire” for the Romanian

The Romanian is currently enjoying her best ever run at the Foro Italico, reaching the semi-final stage after taking out notable victims along the way: Linda Noskova, Jelena Ostapenko and most notably Aryna Sabalenka.

LIVE » Sorana Cîrstea – Coco Gauff 0-0

Start of the match at Foro Olimpico.

UPDATE 16:05 » The players are out on the field

Sorana Cîrstea and Coco Gauff came out on “Campo Centrale”. Now the draw takes place and the official photo is taken. The 3-minute warm-up follows and shortly the match will begin. Cîrstea won the draw and chose to start the service.

UPDATE 15:45 » Jannik Sinner's match is over

The match between Jannik Sinner (24 years old, #1 ATP) and Andrey Rublev (28 years old, #14 ATP), score 6-2, 6-4, in the semifinals of the men's competition has ended. Sorana Cîrstea's match on “Campo Centrale” will not start earlier than 16:05.

Fire duel for Sorana Cîrstea

After getting past Jelena Ostapenko (28 years old, #36 WTA), score 6-1, 7-6 (0), the Romanian will duel for a place in the last act in Rome against Coco Gauff, the player who eliminated Andreeva Mirra (19 years old, #7 WTA) in the quarters, score 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

The match will start after 16:00, being the second scheduled on the Central Court. First, at 14:00, there will be the confrontation between Jannik Sinner (24 years old, #1 ATP) and Andrey Rublev (28 years old, #14 ATP), in the semifinals of the men's competition.

Sorana Cîrstea is having the best season of her career on clay: she has already collected 10 victories on clay, one less than she managed in her peak season on the red surface, 2021. And it's not over yet, the semifinals in Rome are coming up, then the Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros.

Sorana Cîrstea reached 3 semifinals in 2026, in Cluj-Napoca, Rouen and now Rome.

Coco Gauff, the favorite of the duel from the perspective of the specialists, had a much easier route until the penultimate act of the competition in Rome: the American passed Valentova, Solana Sierra, Iva Jovic and Mirra Andreeva.

Today's duel will be the fourth between Sorana Cîrstea and Coco Gauff.

The American player, already a double winner of the Grand Slam, US Open in 2023 and Roland Garros in 2025, won each time, the first time at the Australian Open in January 2020, 2-1 in sets, most recently in April of this year, in Madrid, 2-1 in the 3rd round. The third duel took place also this year, in March, in the round of 16 in Miami. And then Gauff won in 3 sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

Coco is an incredible fighter, the mentality she has is amazing. This year I played with her twice, in Miami and Madrid. Both matches ended in three sets, both matches I had my chances but she ended up winning.

I feel I can win, but I need to be braver. That's what I did with Aryna. I put myself in that position and fought for my chances, I didn't wait for her to make a mistake. Tennis is a learning process. Even now in the latter part of my career I feel like I'm learning every day.

– Sorana Cîrstea, before the semi-final with Coco Gauff

Sorana is a very strong player, it was hard for me to beat her in Madrid, it was three sets, the match was tight, now I'm happy to be in the semi-finals. I will see what tactics I will adopt for the next match.

He is having an excellent last season. She's a great player and obviously it's her last season so she's playing with nothing to lose. I will take the field and expect another tough battle. I will be ready and hopefully I can qualify for the final.

– Coco Gauff, before the semi-final with Sorana Cîrstea