WTA Rankings: Sorana Cirstea closes in on career milestone as retirement fairytale continues
Sorana Cirstea has broken new ground with her run to the semi-final of the Italian Open while she is now on the verge of a big milestone in the WTA Rankings.
Aged 36 years and 28 days, Cirstea has become the second-oldest woman to reach the last four of a WTA 1000/Tier 1 clay-court event since the introduction of the format in 1990, with only the great Martina Navratilova (37 years and 196 days) older than her.
Seeded 26th, the Romanian overpowered 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-1, 7-6 (7-0) in one hour, 31 minutes to reach the semi-final in Rome for the first time in her career with her previous best performance a run to the fourth round in 2024.
“I always said there’s no expiration date for ambition and dreams,” she told the crowd at Foro Italico after her win. “I think everyone can see that I absolutely love this sport. I have so much passion for it.
“For me to play here and be in the semi-finals in Rome is absolutely amazing. I’m so grateful to the sport. I’m just really really enjoying my week in Rome so far.”
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She has been a roll at the Italian Open as she stunned world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in the third round and followed it up with a straight-set win over 16th seed Linda Noskova in the round of 16.
Cirstea has improved her win-loss record for 2026 to 25-7 while she is 10-2 on clay, having reached the quarter-final in Linz, semi-final in Rouen (she withdrew from her last-four clash before taking to court) and round of 32 in Madrid.
The Romanian also won her home event, the Transylvania Open in February, to secure the fourth title of her career and what makes her performances in 2026 even more remarkable is teh fact that she announced in December 2025 that this year would be her last season on the WTA Tour.
WTA Rankings Boost
Cirstea slumped to No 41 in the rankings following a second-round exit from the Australian Open, but her title run in Transylvania resulted in a jump to No 35 while she surged to no 27 ahead of the Italian Open.
The Romanian had previously peaked at No 21 and her run to the semi-final has seen her rise six places to equal that career-best ranking as she had earned 292 points with a first-ever appearance in the top 20 not too far away.
The 36-year-old sits on 1,887 points in the Live Rankings and is just 33 points adrift of Clara Tauson in 20th.
But she will need to beat Coco Gauff – the player who beat her in the round of 32 in Madrid – in the semi-final if she is to break into the top 20 as the American overcame Mirra Andreeva in three sets in their quarter-final encounter.
Cirstea has reached one WTA 1000 final and that was more than a decade ago as she finished runner-up to Serena Williams at the 2013 Canadian Open.
