In a glorious career spanning two decades, Sorana Cirstea added one of the most spectacular victories of her entire career in her final season on tour. The Romanian came back from an early setback to register a victory against the world number one (2-6, 6-3,7-5), Aryna Sabalenka, and she couldn’t help but have mixed feelings about her last dance on the back of this victory.

Sorana Cirstea, who has four WTA titles so far in her career, announced last year that she would retire after the conclusion of the 2026 season, still looks as great as ever on the court. She had captured the Transylvania Open title earlier in February and had a valiant run at the Rouen Open, where she reached the semis. So, it wasn’t a surprise when the 36-year-old was asked if she had given a second thought to retirement after her victory over Sabalenka. In response, Cirstea made a promise to the huge crowd present at the Campo Centrale.

“Maybe if I win the tournament, I promise I’ll think about it,” she said during her post-match interview.

One word to describe the match between Cirstea and Sabalenka would be grueling. Both players gave it their all on the court and broke each other’s serve six times each. Sabalenka made a strong start to the match and captured the first set comfortably before taking a 2-0 lead in the second set. But Cirstea turned the match on its head by winning six out of the next seven games.

Sabalenka had lost all her momentum by the deciding set, and she was chasing Cirstea for most of the time. The latter earned the chance to serve for the match at 5-4, but the World No. 1 refused to go down easily. The Belarusian managed to break her opponent’s serve under pressure to level the set.

However, Cirstea didn’t back down and put in a superb performance in the next game to break Sabalenka’s serve. She took the lead of the set once again, and this time, she made sure to put the match to bed. This was the Romanian’s second victory over Sabalenka, and she has now levelled up the H2H record at 2-2.

Notably, this is Cirstea’s first-ever victory over a World No. 1 player. She has also become the oldest player since 1973 to record her first triumph over a World No. 1 on clay. It remains to be seen if the veteran will be able to keep up this form as she locks horns against Linda Noskova in the R16 of the Italian Open.