Cirstea sets Open Era record with second Roland Garros quarterfinal

Sorana Cirstea's farewell season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz continues to reach new heights. The 36-year-old Romanian defeated Chinese qualifier Xiyu Wang in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, 17 years after her first Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance, which also came in Paris.

Cirstea broke serve in the fourth game of the opening set and again in the sixth game to build a 5-1 lead. Wang, who was sidelined by a shoulder injury from October last year until March, cut the deficit to 5-3, but Cirstea held serve to take the set 6-3.

The second set followed a similar pattern. Cirstea moved two breaks ahead to lead 5-2 before Wang rallied to level the set at 5-5, and then forcing a tiebreak. Cirstea, however, maintained her composure to complete a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory in 1 hour, 55 minutes for the milestone win.

"I'm very happy with the win," Cirstea told the media after her win. "I thought it was a great match. Even if I was up 6-3, 5-2, I thought she was playing really, really well. I was quite lucky to get through that point so fast. Then I felt a little bit I dropped the intensity, and she just was all over me. But very, very happy to win in two sets today."

Here are some notable statistics from Sunday's fourth-round match:

17 - The 17-year gap between Cirstea's first and second Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances in Paris is the longest at a single major by any woman in the Open Era. She first reached the last eight at Roland Garros in 2009 and had made the second week only once since then, in 2021. The previous record was held by Serena Williams (15 years). Cirstea's only other Grand Slam quarterfinal came at the 2023 US Open. 

"I think back then I was a kid, just started on tour," she said. "Didn't know exactly too much what was happening. I was just playing, and I was just at the beginning of my career. Of course, now I have so many years behind me. I have so much experience, maturity. I feel I'm a completely different player. It's just very, very different, you know. But in the same time it's very beautiful. I'm very grateful for everything that's happening. I'm very happy to see the way I evolved as a player in all these years."

36 - At age 36, Cirstea is the third-oldest women's singles quarterfinalist at Roland Garros in the Open Era, behind only Helga Masthoff in 1978 and Billie Jean King in 1980. She is also one of only five women this century to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal after turning 36, joining Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Kaia Kanepi and Laura Siegemund.

21 - This was Cirstea's 21st main-draw victory at Roland Garros, the most she has recorded at any WTA-level event. It was also her 29th tour-level win of 2026. For comparison, she won 28 matches during the entire 2025 season.

Despite all the success, Cirstea is sticking to her decision to retire at the end of the season, as of now at least. "At the moment the decision hasn't changed," she told the media. "I haven't really thought about it. I'm just trying to take it week by week, and I'm not going to do anything different. I'm not going to try now to change things or put any pressure. Of course, we will assess things as we go, but at the moment the decision is the same."

17 - With her victory over the 148th-ranked Wang, Cirstea improved to 17-0 this season against players ranked outside the Top 50 at tour level.

3 - This was only Wang's third loss in 30 matches since returning to the tour. She competed primarily at the ITF and WTA 125 levels, winning three ITF titles, and had not dropped a set in her six matches in Paris (three in qualifying and three in the main draw).

1 - This was Wang's first career loss to a Romanian player at tour level. She entered the match with an 8-0 record against Romanians, most recently defeating Anca Todoni in Budapest in 2024.

Cirstea, now 1-1 against Wang in head-to-head, will face No. 8 seed Mirra Andreeva in the last eight. She trails Andreeva 0-1, having lost their only meeting in the 2026 Linz quarterfinals.