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World No 74 Sorana Cirstea was in disbelief after stunning Aryna Sabalenka for one of the biggest wins of her career. Cirstea, a former world No 21, upset world No 2 Sabalenka 6-4 6-4 to progress into the Miami Open semifinal.
Cirstea, 32, defeated a top-2 player for the first time in her career. Also, Cirstea is set to play in a WTA 1000 semifinal for the first time in 10 years. "I think I'm a bit speechless. I came out knowing that it's going to be a really tough match.
Aryna hits so hard, so I knew I had to hold my ground, and I'm very, very happy with my performance today. I guess people like to keep count of the age, the years, the results, but I never do that. I just mind my own business, work hard, do my thing, believe in my game, work with my coach Thomas Johansson -- we just started in December and so far, I think it's going great.
I'm not defined by numbers. I'm just trying to keep my head down and work hard," Cirstea said after beating Sabalenka, per the WTA website.
How Cirstea defeated Sabalenka?
Cirstea got off to a great start to the match, breaking Sabalenka in the very first game.
Down by a break, Sabalenka worked her way back into the first set, breaking back Cirstea in the eighth game to tie the first set to four games apiece. However, blowing an early first-set break didn't negatively impact Cirstea, who broke Sabalenka again in the ninth game before serving out for the first set in the following game.
In the second set, pretty much the same scenario was seen. Cirstea broke Sabalenka in the first game, before the Belarusian broke back in the fourth game. After blowing an early second-set break, Cirstea broke Sabalenka again in the seventh game and then held on to her serve for the rest of the set to complete a two-set win. Cirstea plays next against either Petra Kvitova or Ekaterina Alexandrova.