Romania’s Sorana Cirstea is through to the third round of the Australian Open tennis championship after beating Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic earlier today (January 16 ). On paper, it should have been pretty straightforward for Sorana, seeded 27, as her opponent was well below her in the world rankings. But the Romanian had a first set scare, losing 6 – 1 after being unable to hold her service games and struggling to find any replies to her Czech opponent.

However, Sorana Cirstea came back in the second set and from thereon was in control of the match. She broke the Czech girl’s serve twice in sets two and three and won the match 1 – 6, 6 – 3, 6 – 2.

Sorana is now the only Romanian still in the Australian Open, after Irina Camelia-Begu lost her second round match to the number four seed from Poland Agnieszka Radwanska.

Round three looks like being tough for the Romanian; she faces the number six seed from China Na Li, who was a runner up in Melbourne in 2011 and won the French Open at Roland Garros in the same year.

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. Her best result to date in the Australian Open was last year, when she 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