What a chance! Sorana Cîrstea has a perfect path to the quarters at Roland Garros » The next opponent produced a surprise
Article by Maria Olteanu – Published Wednesday, May 27, 2026 9:35 p.m. / Updated Wednesday, May 27, 2026 10:02 p.m.
Sorana Cîrstea (36 years old, #18 WTA) passed like the “typhoon” in the second round from Roland Garros by Eva Lys Lys (24 years old, #81 WTA), score 6-3, 6-0, and the chances seem to be on the side of the Romanian at the second Grand Slam tournament of the year. Further, for a place in the eighth, our player will duel with Solana Sierra (21 years old, #68 WTA).
In the first round of the French Open, Sorana Cîrstea defeated Ksenia Efremova (17 years old, #625 WTA), score 6-3, 6-1. The mission was just as simple on Wednesday night in the second round, even if the start was complicated when her opponent managed to break away. From 3-1 to Lys, Sorana didn't concede a game until the end, making it 11 in a row to qualify for the third round.
There, our player will have another chance, after Solana Sierra (21 years old, #68 WTA) produced the surprise and beat Jasmine Paolini (30 years old, #13 WTA) in the second round, after signing a story comeback.
Sorana Cîrstea – Solana Sierra, in the third round at Roland Garros
The Argentinian Solana Sierra lost the first set, 3-6, but then came back and did not give Paolini, the 13th player in the world, many more chances.
Sierra won the second set 6-4 and pushed the match into the decider, where she was in front again, and finally prevailed 6-3, advancing to the third round, where she will face Sorana Cîrstea, our only representative left in the competition. For Sierra, it is the first time in her career that she reaches the third round at Roland Garros, for Sorana the sixth time.
So far, the two players have met only once in the WTA circuit, at the US Open, in 2025, when the Romanian prevailed in two sets, score 7-5, 6-0.
Sorana has a dream route to the quarters
Qualified in the third round of the French Open, Sorana Cîrstea has the chance on her side on the way to the quarterfinals.
She got rid of Paolini in the third round, against whom she would have played the next match, and also got rid of Elena Rybakina (26 years old, #2 WTA), whom she could have met in the round of 16.
The second player of the world was eliminated in the second round of the Grand Slam in Paris by Yuliia Starodubtseva (26 years old, #55 WTA), who will fight in the third round with Xiyu Wang (25 years old, #148 WTA).
