Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea reached the round of 16 of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome, defeating world number one Aryna Sabalenka. This result allowed the 36-year-old athlete to become the author of three age-old achievements in the history of women's tennis.
The third round of the WTA 1000 competition saw a meeting between world number one Sabalenka and Kirsty. Prior to this match, the statistics of the tennis players' head-to-head matches were in favor of the ranking leader, in particular, Sabalenka defeated Kirsty in early 2026 in Brisbane (2:0).
The match lasted 2:14 hours and ended with the Romanian tennis player winning in three sets. Cîrstea was able to fight back, losing the first set 2:6, and realized the decisive games in the final set.
WTA 1000. Rome, 1/16 finals
Aryna Sabalenka — Sorana Cîrstea (Romania) 1:2 (6:2, 3:6, 5:7)
According to the analytical portal OptaAce, since the introduction of computer ratings in 1975, Kirstya, at the age of 36 years and 28 days, became the oldest tennis player who:
- defeated the world's number one clay court player;
- won against the leader of the ranking, losing the first set;
- For the first time in her career, she defeated the current world number one.
This victory was also the Romanian tennis player's 10th over opponents in the top 5 of the world rankings. This result also broke a streak of seven losses in matches against players of this level.
In addition, Kirstia took fifth place on the list of the oldest tennis players to ever defeat a WTA ranking leader on any surface, led by Serena Williams, who achieved a similar victory at the age of 37 years and 110 days.
“I am very pleased with this victory. I think I played really well today. I work very, very hard. It's nice that these efforts have paid off with this result,” the tennis player noted.
The Romanian also commented on her plans for the future in tennis, linking them to the results in the current tournament.
“Maybe if I win the tournament, I promise I'll think about not ending my career,” said Kirstia, who has four WTA singles titles to her credit.
In the next round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome, Kirstia will face Czech Republic's Linda Noskova, who knocked out Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova in the third round. Sabalenka, in turn, completed her tournament appearances before the quarterfinals for the first time since February 2025.