General: Found herself splashed all over the back pages for two reasons during her run to the French Open quarter-finals in May. The first was that her progress came at the expense of leading players Alize Cornet, Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic; the second, her stunning looks, which made her the ideal poster girl in the absence of injured Maria Sharapova.

Cirstea was a promising junior and has made good progress at the top level – and crucially she already has a first career title under her belt. But she’s struggled since her impressive showing in Paris, springing doubts over whether she can make the leap from top 30 to top 10.

Strengths: Tall, elegant and willowy, Cirstea has a neat, controlled style that minimises mistakes. She might not hit for the corners, but then again the unforced error count is always low. Doesn’t appear to be fast around the court, but actually is deceptively quick covering the ground with her long strides and good reading of the game.

As you’d expect of a good doubles player she’s also a very solid volleyer. But she also has solid groundstrokes. Forehand and backhands are delivered with plenty of zip and punch, whipping through the ball quickly on both sides. Has a great line in disguising her shots: on both sides, she holds the racquet well back until the last minute, making it tough for opponent’s to predict which side she’s going to play to.

Weaknesses: Cirstea’s game is built more around being solid than spectacular – ideal for getting to the later stages of most tournaments, but you wonder if she has the tools to pick up titles on a regular basis. Seems lacking a little when it comes to delivering the final blow: in her third-round defeat to Victoria Azarenka at Wimbledon, for example, she dominated the first set but was unable find the crucial points to wrap things up, and lost in a tie-break. Despite her competence at the net, she often seems to lack the confidence to charge in and take control of the point.

Prospects: Cirstea could be huge. What her game lacks appears to stem from her youth rather than any inherent limitations. Her slightly cautious, tentative shotmaking is both a problem in itself and the root cause of her inability to take the initiative.

And it’s a problem that stems from a lack of physical strength. Despite her height and build, there’s something physically delicate about Cirstea, as if she’s yet to grow in to her physique and get the most from herself. It’s possible that it’ll never happen – but if it does, then she could be major a force on the women’s circuit for many years to come.

General: Cirstea is the classic example of what Jane Austen would have referred to as an ‘accomplished’ woman. As well as being beautiful, rich and talented, she speaks English, Spanish and French, in addition to her native Romanian. She enjoys reading and watching films, is a crossword fanatic and keeps parrots. Loves playing all ball sports, and hitting the shops of New York and London. Describes herself as ambitious, stubborn and happy, and names Steffi Graf as the person she most admires.

Source: Toby Keel – Eurosport UK

I’ve already started preparing for the next match, I want to make it into the semi-finals”, Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea declared for HotNews. The 19 years-old Cirstea caught up with Ruxandra Dragomir’s achievements, the last Romanian female tennis player to make it to Roland Garros quarter-final.

Australian Samantha Stosur is the only obstacle between Sorana Carstea and the French Open semi-final. The Australian is in excellent physical shape, having eliminated Roland Garros favourite No. 4 Elena Dementieva.

“There will certainly be difficult playing against Stossur. This is an advanced competition level, there are only 7 other players. I know she’s a very good played with plenty of experience behind her and with a lot of talent that will give me a hard ride in the quarter-final, but I hope to be able to keep my focus, as I have done it so far”, Cirstea said after the match against Jankovic.

Samantha Stosur (no. 32 WTA) is the first Australian tennis player to get to this stage of the competition in the last 21 years. She said about Sorana: “I don’t know anything about my next opponent. I never played against Sorana, I never trained with her. It will be something completely new, but I will try to talk to persons who know her and know her style. I believe my coach saw a few games she played against Jankovic. We’ll talk about this on Tuesday, when we’ll agree on a strategy and I will focus more on my performance than on hers.

Source: roalndgarros.com

“Breaking her in the first game of the second set was the turning point of the match,” said Cirstea, who was also forced to hit a second serve down that match point. “I thought now or never, and just went for it. From then I just went for my strokes. Staying tough in the important moments of the match really helped me, and I hope to continue this form at tournaments in the coming weeks.”

Cirstea was a runner-up in her first career final, losing to Gisela Dulko in three sets on the clay courts of Budapest last spring. But it was second time lucky in Tashkent this year, as the 18-year-old came back from the brink to emphatically beat her 19-year-old opponent, who was playing in her first career final.

“I’ll cherish the title in Tashkent forever as it is my first title; I was desperate to take my first title!” Cirstea added. “I’ve been improving a lot since my first final, and I’m looking for many more titles. I’m also extremely happy to wear the traditional Uzbek dress, which has become the trademark of this event.”

“I made some mistakes and missed too many easy shots; it was my first final and I’m happy to have come so far, but I’m sad to lose,” Lisicki said. “Although I might have missed a lot of shots today, in the future these shots will be my weapons. My goal is to be a Top 10 player and I’m going to work even harder.”

Source:  sonyericssonwtatour.com