At the end of last season, Sorana Cirstea announced she plans to retire in 2026. Since then, all she has done is win. She had clinched her fourth WTA title at the Transylvania Open earlier in February and is now having a remarkable clay swing. This includes a first French Open quarterfinal berth in 17 years. However, despite the solid results, Cirstea is firm on not changing her retirement plans.

“I came into my last year wanting to really do well, but I didn’t really think it was gonna go that well… I’m not gonna try now to change things or put any pressure. We will assess things as we go, but at the moment the decision is the same,” she said during her post-match press conference.

The 36-year-old also admitted that she herself wasn’t expecting such a drastic improvement in results. Like any other player, Cirstea also wants to win as much as she can in her remaining days on the tour. But she is still firm about not pressurizing herself too much over the retirement decision.

“I haven’t really thought about it. I’m just trying to take it week by week. I’m not gonna do anything different. I’m not gonna 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,” she added.

Cirstea has had a flawless run at the French Open so far. She has racked up four victories in the tournament and has yet to drop a set. The World No. 18 began her campaign with a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 victory before defeating Eva Lys 6-3, 6-0 in the second round. She then recorded a commanding 6-0, 6-0 triumph over Solana Sierra and then eliminated Xiyu Wang 6-3, 7-6 in the fourth round.

Sorana Cirstea had every reason to be confident coming into the French Open. She has significantly elevated her form in the ongoing clay swing and currently has a win-loss record of 10-2. She began the season by reaching the quarterfinals of the Linz Open. The veteran then had a solid run to the semis at Open de Rouen, where she had to pull out from her clash against Veronika Podrez due to a leg injury.

The Romanian’s best performance of the year so far had arguably come at the Italian Open. Cirstea made it to the semifinals of the Masters 1000 event and defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the process. She pulled off a memorable 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat over the World No. 1 in the second round.

She then made it past Linda Noskova and Jelena Ostapenko in the rounds that followed before eventually being eliminated by Coco Gauff at the Foro Italico. Seeing these performances, it isn’t a surprise that Cirstea has frequently been asked if she will decide to reverse her retirement.

While she has absolutely dominated her opponents at the French Open, her first real test of the tournament will come in the quarterfinals.

Sorana Cirstea will lock horns against Mirra Andreeva in the QFs

Cirstea has been drawn against World No. 8 Mirra Andreeva in her next match at the Roland Garros. The latter has also had a brilliant campaign at the Grand Slam so far and has lost just one set in the four matches she has played so far.

The Russian had handed a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Fiona Ferro in the first round and had then recorded a hard-fought 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Marina Bassols Ribera. She then eliminated the 27th seed, Marie Bouzkova, 6-4, 6-2, before racking up a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 win against Jil Teichmann in the fourth round.

Notably, Cirstea and Andreeva had met for the first time in a tour-level match earlier in the quarterfinals of the Linz Open. The match had gone down to the deciding set, and the 19-year-old had eventually recorded a 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 victory. Andreeva had gone on to clinch the Linz Open title later on and, just like Cirstea, has had a strong clay swing so far.

It remains to be seen if Cirstea will be able to defy the odds and register a monumental victory over Andreeva to keep her impressive run going at the French Open.