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Sorana Cirstea has won 20 matches in a year faster than she’s ever done in her career

And in the final year of her career, too.

By John Berkok
Sorana Cirstea of Romania competes in the first round of the Transylvania Open 2026, a WTA250 Tournament, against Kamila Rakhimova of Uzbekistan, at BT Arena in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, on February 2, 2026. (Photo by Alex Nicodim/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
© Alex Nicodim/NurPhoto

After a strong second half of 2025, Sorana Cirstea announced during the off-season that 2026 would be her last year on the tour.

And something must have clicked after that announcement, as she’s now gotten off to an even stronger start this year.

In fact, it’s her strongest start to a year in her career.

The Romanian just recorded her 20th tour-level win of 2026 on Friday night, defeating Hungary’s Anna Bondar, 7-6 (2), 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the clay-court event in Rouen, France, and in doing so reached 20 tour-level wins in a season faster than she’s ever done in her 20-plus-year professional career.

And she didn’t just reach that milestone faster than ever, she reached it much faster than ever—the earliest she ever did it before was in 2013, when she got her 20th tour-level win of the year during the grass-court season in June, in Birmingham.

SORANA CIRSTEA’S 20-PLUS WIN SEASONS (tour-level):

  • 2008: 28 wins [got 20th in August at US Open]
  • 2009: 22 wins [got 20th in August at Cincinnati]
  • 2012: 30 wins [got 20th in July at Stanford]
  • 2013: 34 wins [got 20th in June at Birmingham]
  • 2017: 27 wins [got 20th in September at Seoul]
  • 2021: 24 wins [got 20th in August in Canada]
  • 2022: 22 wins [got 20th in August at Cincinnati]
  • 2023: 24 wins [got 20th in August at US Open]
  • 2025: 28 wins [got 20th in August at US Open]
  • 2026: 20 wins so far [got 20th in April at Rouen]
Sorana Cirstea stuns Emma Raducanu in Cluj-Napoca final2:14

Now 20-6 in 2026, Cirstea is through to her second WTA semifinal of the year, having captured the fourth WTA title of her career at the indoor hard-court event in Cluj-Napoca, Romania in February—which was also her first career WTA title on home soil.

Awaiting the No. 2 seed in the semifinals will be surprise semifinalist Veronika Podrez, a Ukrainian qualifier who won her quarterfinal match against Katie Boulter earlier in the day, 6-4, 6-1.