So on to Madrid, hoping our Champ has healed. She has a Bye which gives her extra recovery time from that sad Rouen withdraw and she had a lovely draw against an 18 year old Italian, Tryra Grant, she is ranked over 200 places lower than Sorana but has recently won an ITF title. She is also a young Italian and Italians rule the tennis world these days and also is Sorana okay after her injury?

PP and i half watched this as it clashed with Gabi Ruse’s epic battle with World Number Two, Elena Rybakina (what a year Gabi is having too!!!)

The first set looked a formality for our Champ but she was pushed a lot in the second, down an early break and always chasing but managed to stop it getting sticky by killing off the match in a second set tiebreak.

The Italian looked very good but it’s World Number Three, Coco Gauff next for Sorana, you will remember from March they met in Miami in a three setter. Coco leads the head to head 2-0 but this is their first meeting on clay which could work in Sorana’s favour.

The match with Coco Gauff was sadly another painful three set defeat for our Champ. 6-4 5-7 1-6 it had shades of their previous meeting, and putting down my Romanian flag and Sorana hat, she was the better player in the first set and arguably the second too. Like the match before it felt Sorana should have won. She allowed a couple of things to distract her, she complained about Coco’s box talking too much which was fair enough yet she should be shutting that out and Gauff was also very unwell and was physically sick late in set two but after a medical time out she seized the momentum back from a cautious Cirstea who should have ruthlessly confirmed the kill. Sorana just seemed rattled by losing the second set against all odds and Gauff ran away with the third.

The good news was our Champ still looks amazing out there, this one was unlucky and credit to Coco but Cirstea can now go to Rome fresh and hungry, so excited to watch her next match.

I am writing after Sorana’s spectacular win against the world number one in the third round of Rome. A triumphant 2-6 6-3 7-5 win against Aryna Sabalenka from a set and a break down. Sorana recieved a Bye in the first round and dispatched Germany’s Tatiana Maria in straight sets 6-2 6-0 in less than an hour in the second round.

The win over Sabalenka was truly magnificent, a passionate Italian crowd created a great atmosphere, as well as her brilliant coach, Adrian Cruciat, her good friend, Swiss player Belinda Bencic and her partner sat in Sorana’s box too, roaring her on. The overall stats looked as close as kittens but the truth was for a set and a bit Sorana was being hammered by the pure power of Sabalenka yet she was able to spring to life just in time. Her return game was incredible, everything started to come back with interest, she really got under Sabalenka’s skin. The quality of tennis was superb from both especially in the final set. An early break lead from Sori was soon cancelled out but in a dramatic finale Sorana broke again, she could not serve it out the first time at 5-4 yet broke once more and nailed it for 7-5. Sorana had been playing so well all year, this win has been coming, I’m not ashamed to say I was crying when she won this one 🥹

Next she plays Linda Noskova for the fourth time this year, she just needs to play half as well as she did against Sabalenka today and she will find herself in the quarter finals of the biggest tournament in Italy, in the heart of the country, the Eternal City, Rome.

So was there a come down in the last 16 match? Absolutely not! Sorana was spellbinding yet again! A memorising first set which she won 6-2, the young Czech did not know what had hit her. Sorana’s service games were excellent and a couple of points from the Romanian were delicious, an electrifying backhand cross court pass at full stretch from the far corner of the deuce court. And she was at a Noskova drop shot like lightning, shooting down from the baseline to flick it back cross court on the half volley drive. Incredible control.

Sorana went up an early break in set two yet Noskova to her credit pounced on the Romanian during a slight drop off in level to restore parity yet Sorana broke late in the set at 4-4 then served it out in style.

To beat the World Number One on Saturday in the match of her life then to come back a couple of days later and go again, there is an argument that this one was tougher but she was brilliant once more. She is in the Rome quarter finals for the first time, anything could happen now 👀

Jelena Ostapenko was next for our Champ who was going in with a slight lead in the head to head 4-3 but Sorana won the most recent match, you may remember Brisbane from our Sorana Swansong January? Sorana was also firmly locked into God Mode and hit Ostapenko like a train early on, winning the first set 6-1 in 26 minutes. Interesting fact here this season Sorana is 20-2 when she wins after winning the first set, so one hell of a front runner. Ostapenko always dangerous made a match out of it in a much closer second set but Sorana showed her superior calmness and professionalism by blitzing the firey Latvian to 0 in the second set tiebreak. She was magnificent once again.

Coco Gauff is next for the third time in as many months. Sorana lost both of those last two meetings in three sets but you will remember from the past Sorana Swansongs she should really have won both and had Gauff on the hook in both matches, will it be third time lucky this year? Well if she continues to play how she has been playing she will certainly get to her first ever Rome final, also if she wins the next match she will be in the Top 20 for the first time in her 21 year career, remarkable 🥹

Sorana started the match on fire, racing to a 4-1 lead with some quality serving and lightning movement. A little drop off at 4-3 let the young American back in and she then won the next six games in a row taking a set and a break lead on route however with her back against the wall, just like in the Sabalenka match, Sorana found a new energy and stopped the rot to break back for 1-2 in the second set. After the change of ends there was a spring in her step once more and she eased her way to 2-2 holding to love, full credit to the Romanian, Coco was starting to run away with it but the semi final is now well back in the balance and Sorana looks hungry once more.

With Sorana about to serve at 2-3 in the second set there was a very lengthy delay due to a medical emergency in the crowd. When they returned they exchanged breaks of serve as the second set became a little lacklustre and lacking the energy and intensity of the first. Coco broke again and the wind had understandbly left the Sorana sail, she drifted away in the final Gauff service game yet to her credit she threw the kitchen sink at Coco on the match point but it was not enough. I said Sorana was the better player in the previous two meetings but Coco Gauff was excellent today and ultimately too much for our Champ who gave everything.

Of Sorana we are so proud of you, matched her career high of 21, semi finals in Rome for the first time and beat the world number one. It is a fortnight in the eternal city which will stay with this special player forever.

No tears Champ, go to Paris with confidence 💪🇷🇴❤️