For the second time in 11 days, Sorana Cirstea has pulled off a major upset in the Sunshine Swing—last Tuesday she took out Caroline Garcia in the fourth round of Indian Wells, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, and today she beat the Frenchwoman again, 6-2, 6-3, in the second round of Miami.
Not only is it the first time Cirstea has had multiple Top 5 wins in the same season, but she’s done it in back-to-back weeks:
CIRSTEA’S CAREER TOP 5 WINS:
- d. No. 5 Jankovic in 2009 French Open 4th Rd
- d. No. 5 Stosur in 2012 Australian Open 1st Rd
- d. No. 5 Li in 2013 Toronto SFs
- d. No. 4 Pliskova in 2017 Beijing 3rd Rd
- d. No. 5 Garcia in 2023 Indian Wells 4th Rd [March 14th, 2023]
- d. No. 4 Garcia in 2023 Miami 2nd Rd [March 24th, 2023]
Cirstea, who’s been ranked as high as No. 21 herself in 2013, is playing her 70th WTA 1000-level event in Miami this year. Her best result at this level was reaching the final in Toronto in 2013, where she finished runner-up to Serena Williams—then hit that aforementioned career-high.