WHAT HAPPENED: Belinda Bencic suspected she’d have her hands full with Sorana Cirstea.
Two days ago, the Romanian No. 30 seed upset 2022 Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina, who was seeded fourth here, to book a spot opposite Bencic in the fourth round of the US Open, and Bencic had lost two of their last three matches.
Both players suspected they were in for a sizzling match—in more ways than one. The afternoon’s temperature hit 90 degrees and the Louis Armstrong Stadium courts were cooking. If there was a cloud in Queens, it was nowhere near the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
It was the now double-upset artist Cirstea who would survive the heat and take the match, securing her a spot in the quarterfinals by a 6-3, 6-3 final score.
In the first set, the 33-year-old underdog was the quicker starter, and needed just 22 minutes to go up 5-0. Cirstea seemed determined to paint every line, while the 26-year-old Bencic seemed stuck to the baseline, hitting zero winners—and 11 unforced errors. And while the Swiss star finally managed to hold her serve and break back, it was a case of too little, too late.
Between sets, there was a murmur in the restive crowd: Were we in for an upset?
Serving to start the second set, Bencic did nothing to dispel their concerns. She lost the game at love, tossing in a double-fault (her third)—and her racquet at the changeover. Meanwhile, the Romanian rocked on, breaking Bencic twice, and then consolidating those breaks to go up 4-1.
"I have been starting the whole tournament quite well, and I think that was the key today to go up 5-Love quite quickly," Cirstea said. "And then of course she's a great player so she started to swing more, started to be more aggressive.
"I think the early break in the second set was very important to go a set and a break up. Then of course she had to catch up to me."
With a comfortable cushion, Cirstea gets credit for doing so much more than simply making the most of a good player’s not-so-good day. The Romanian played the game she needed to play to win, staying steady and hitting her spots. To add insult to injury, a visibly frustrated Bencic took a nasty spill.
As the clock hit 75 minutes, the former Olympic gold medalist was down 2-5—and was facing Cirstea’s (mostly) unfailing serve.
Would the Romanian be able to keep her nerves in check and close out the match? The answer to that question would be yes, eventually.
Cirstea wobbled on her serve to bring the set score to 5-3. But then it was Bencic’s turn—once again—to find a way back in. Cirstea found it instead, taking the second set, 6-3.
WHAT IT MEANS: No. 10 seed Karolina Muchova was the first to write her name into the women’s singles quarterfinal lineup, after she took out China’s Wang Xinyu. When Cirstea added her name to the QF roster, she set up the players’ third meeting.
The Czech won most recently, a two-setter in Montreal this summer, and Cirstea won in Miami in the spring.. But Muchova owns the prior two wins, at the 2020 US Open and in Dubai, last February.
"We've had very tough matches, very tight battles every time we played against each other," Cirstea said. "Only this year we played three times so I think we know each other quite well. I know her; she knows me.
:Again, she's a very talented player. She's been playing great throughout the whole year. I'm really expecting a tough one. But again, I'm very happy and grateful to be here. I'm gonna take this next opportunity to give my all, and I think it's going to be a very fun match.:
MATCH POINT: This is uncharted territory for Cirstea, at least in New York. Tuesday’s contest will be the Romanian’s first-ever US Open quarterfinal. Her only prior trip to this stage at a Grand Slam was as a 19-year-old in 2009 at Roland Garros.
