Sorana Cirstea’s Australian Open campaign has come to an end after a third round defeat to number six seed and former French Open champion Li Na. Still, it was the best Romanian performance at this year’s Australian Grand Slam tennis event and Sorana Cirstea equaled her previous competition best.

The match was fairly close during the first set with neither player managing to dominate play. There were plenty breaks of serve too, five in total, but the Chinese player broke once more than her Romanian opponent to win the set 6 – 4.

In the second set, Sorana Cirstea’s resistance crumbled, Li Na got more first serves in play and upped the percentage of points she won. Meanwhile, Sorana was completely unable to hold her own serve, and was broken four times in the set, giving a final score of 6 – 4, 6 – 1.

Aged 22, Sorana Cirstea originally hails from Bucharest, but now lives in Targoviste. She currently ranks 29 in the world, while her highest ever placing was 23rd. This time round, she equaled her best previous Australian Open result, which came last year, when she also reached the third round. Sorana’s best performance in a Grand Slam event was reaching the quarter finals in the 2009 French Open, she has also made it to the third round at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com

photo source: australianopen.com