After a deserved rest, the newly crowned Transylvania Open Champion continued her Swansong Tour with the next stop at Dubai, Sorana’s permanent place of residence for the last five years and a Happy Hunting Ground! Our Champ is a former quarter finalist at the WTA 1000 tournament here.

In the first round she faced a qualifier, Aliaksandra Sassnovich of Belarus, surprisingly enough Sorana had never previously met the 29 year old who is currently 119 in the world and has been known to upset the apple cart with big names in the past. However, Sorana was solid from the start, racing to a quick 4-1 lead she was pegged back a few times but ultimately won the set 6-3, the second was tighter but Sori pulled through on a tiebreak, a routine straight sets win from the Romanian who is in such rich form this year and a lovely nerve settler for the tougher challenges ahead at one of her favourite tournaments. Linda Noskova, the 10th seed is next, and the Czech has had a strong start to the year too. She won the only previous meeting in Brisbane 2024 which went the distance! However Sorana is on a wave and in Dubai, the way she is playing she is capable of causing the upset but very likely will need another long three setter to do so, it should be popcorn 🍿 😊

Sorana won 6-1 6-4 in just 70 minutes. A phenomenonal effort, sadly owing to a broadcaster mess up I could only watch about 10 of those minutes but she was sizzling, so fast, so alert, so sharp. One of the few points we did see was a delicious forehand winner down the line. We predicted a long a three set war but this was yet another Cirstea crush. When I interviewed her coach, Adrian Cruciat, late last year he discussed the difficulty and rarity of sustaining such a brilliant level of tennis at the age of 35. It is not easy for any player to produce the tennis which Sorana is producing particularly a player in their mid 30s. Sorana is making it look simple, she has been exceptional all year and this was a top player she destroyed today. As the field narrows to the final 16 you have to now think this incredible Romanian has an outside chance of adding more to the trophy cabinet on what is really turning out to be a super Swansong year!

Tomorrow’s match is against the rising star from the Philippines, Alexandra Eala, it will not be easy but this one was not supposed to easy either! All bets are off the way Sori is playing and you would think her talented 20 year old opponent will be the more nervous of the two as Sorana sets her targets on a return the Dubai quarter finals and maybe even further…

Sorana’s match is late in the evening and before a raucous, capacity crowd. Sadly, they are all for her young opponent and they often get over excited and are very noisy during points, the Umpire has to step in a few times.

Eala looks the more nervous of the two players in the opening games and Adrian Cruciat looks more nervous than Sorana! It is an eventful opening set as breaks are exchanged a few times and Sorana exhibits moments of pure gold, she gets to incredible half volley drop shot at the net with silky hands and the smoothest of touches as she registers a contender for point of the tournament. However it is Eala who holds on and serves the close set out for 7-5. She then races to a 4-0 lead in set two yet Sori plots to deploy the most unlikely of comebacks as she brings the score back to 4-5 unfortunately not enough to prevent a solid service game from the youngster to stamp her pass into the quarter finals and end Sori’s Dubai dream.

Overall another strong week for the Romanian Number One and Transylvania Open Champion, such as the confidence she is playing with and the sensational level of tennis she would feel short changed and a little frustrated with herself for giving herself too much to do at the start of the second set, but Alexandra Eala is brilliant young player, 15 years the Romanian’s junior and improving every match, it was always going to be a tough one.

Sorana should be very proud of her Dubai run, her level remains world class as it has been all year! Next is the North American Swing; Indian Wells and Miami, two more tournaments where she has very happy memories and we cannot wait to see her create some more!

Haide Sorana! Never Surrender Champ ❤️