Sorana Cirstea reaches second Grand Slam quarterfinal 53 majors after contesting first

FLASHBACK TO MARCH: Cirstea stops Sabalenka in Miami

Give Sorana Cirstea a round of applause, or two, or 53 for that matter.

As a 19-year-old rising talent, Cirstea advanced to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at 2009 Roland Garros. On Sunday at the US Open, the now 33-year-old finally reached a second in her 53nd major appearance since that initial breakthrough run.

Having knocked out world No. 4 Elena Rybakina in a three-setter two days earlier for the 20th Top 10 win of her career, Cirstea backed up that performance with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over 15th seed Belinda Bencic. After 84 minutes on the court,, she improved to 3-1 lifetime against the Swiss.

"I think I started really strong, and I sent quite a good message right from the beginning," Cirstea told press. "I have played quite solid beginning to end. I think a few chances escaped my hand in the second, but I was able to refocus straightaway.

"I think I have been playing quite well for a while. I felt a lot of times I came out a bit short, like the results would not match the work I have put in."

Cirstea raced out to the first five games and never fully allowed the former semifinalist to find an opening back into the contest after her initial double break advantages were reduced in each set. The 30th seed was the superior hitter in every way, winning 69 percent of her second-serve return points and contributing 17 fewer unforced errors than her opponent. Though she was unable to serve out the encounter, Cirstea bounced back with her sixth break to end it.

Before this week, Cirstea had lost her last three attempts to win a round-of-16 match at a major—the 2022 Australian Open, 2021 French Open and 2017 Australian Open. Despite her infrequent trips to second weeks, the former world No. 21 owns a .500 record or better at all four Grand Slam events. She had previously been to the third round three times at Flushing Meadows, most recently in 2020.

This season, the Romanian also advanced to her first WTA 1000 semifinal in nearly a decade when she progressed to the last four at Miami by ousting Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka. Her lead-up to the New York major saw Cirstea fall to Top 20 opponents at three North American summer hard-court stops after winning her opening matches. She’ll get a shot at avenging one of those losses when she takes on Karolina Muchova in the last eight here.

The Roland Garros finalist fended off Wang Winyu, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, to complete a career set of Grand Slam quarterfinals. Muchova, who beat Cirstea in the second round of Montreal on August 9, has now won nine of her past 10 matches following a runner-up finish to Coco Gauff in Cincinnati.