After Sorana took the first set fairly easily 6-4, the match got tighter and Stephanie took an important early lead in the second. Sorana was able to equalise again but eventually lost the second set 5-7. In the decissive, each player broke twice to 4-4, Sorana broke again and finally served for the set and match to win 6-4.

Although she hit 10 aces during this match, Sorana had a poor first serve percentage (50%)…let’s hope she’ll bring it together for the next match against her friend and doubles partner, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. So far this year, Sorana had good success against Caroline, both in the French Open and LA. Let’s hope that history will repeat in New York .

Good Luck Sori!

Next week, Sorana will play in another Premier event, this time in Cincinati at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open. She is scheduled to play Meghann Schaughnessy in the first round.

Next opponent for Sorana in the LA semifinals is her French Opean aquaintance.

Sorana will now meet Agnieszka Radwanska in tomorrow’s  quarter finals. Last week in Stanford, Sorana lost to Agnieszka in the first round 6-0 6-1. Agnieszka also leads in their head to head series 2-1.

Good luck Sorana!

Sorana will play Sabine Lisicki of Germany in the third round. Sorana and Sabine met once before, in the final of the Tashkent WTA Open, sorana winning the matchand her first WTA title.

Sorana is now set to for a second round face-off with her friend Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.  They each won one of the two previous direct matches. Their last direct match between the two was at this year’s French Open when Sorana won 7-6, 7-5. Caroline had a good season so far this year, winning  at Eastbourne and Ponte Vedra Beach, playing 3 other finals and reaching the quarters 5 times.

All in all it looks like a tough second round for Sorana.

Now Sorana has to concentrate on tomorrow’s single match against the 16 year old Michelle Lachere De Brito of Portugal. The two met once before last year in Tashkent when Sorana won in straight sets.

Good luck Sori!

Sorana is playing in Los Angeles next week, where she is scheduled to meet Portugal’s Michelle Larcher de Brito in the first round.   Sorana and Michelle met once before, last year in the Tashkent tournament where she won her first WTA title. If she wins, she is set to meet her friend and occasional doubles partner, Caroline Wozniacky. Agniezka Radwanska and Sam Stosur are also in Sorana’s quarter of the draw so that’s going to be an interesting tournament. The word is Revenge!!!

Hai Sorana!

The Centre Court had an intriguing glimpse into the future today when Victoria Azarenka faced Sorana Cirstea for a place in the third round.

These two 19-year-olds may have been new faces to many at Wimbledon but to each other they are very familiar, having jousted many times on their way through the junior rankings. But Azarenka’s six months’ seniority counts for a lot at this level and after a tight first set her extra experience showed as she won 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

Azarenka and Cirstea are joined by another fact – each produced the best Grand Slam performance of their careers at Roland Garros this month by making the quarter-finals. And at senior level these two have a habit already of meeting in Slams. At Roland Garros last year Belarusian Azarenka achieved the dreaded “double bagel” (6-0, 6-0) over Cirstea and one month later at Wimbledon, the Romanian managed just four games in defeat.

This first meeting of 2009 was very different. No quarter was given in the first set, and it was clearly about who would blink first. Azarenka’s first serve was formidable. Break points were few and shared almost evenly, but both players held their games together and it stayed on serve.

But what emerged clearly – as always when Azarenka is on court – is her signature combative nature. Not only did she routinely rebuke herself, making no attempt to disguise any thought going through her mind, but she hit the ball with every stroke as if she wished to blow it to smithereens.

For as long as Cirstea kept returning it, which she did, Azarenka’s frustration grew – and with it her trademark shriek, which reduces Maria Sharapova’s grunt to a murmur by comparison.

As often happens, the crowd soon tired of it and began overtly to support her opponent. Azarenka has not only seen all this before but tends actively to thrive on it. If a crowd dislikes her, she can seem to abhor them right back.

Certainly by the time they reached the tiebreak there was no doubting who the Centre Court crowd favoured. But that was just the moment when a couple of Cirstea errors tipped the balance Azarenka’s way, and then the Belarusian brought up four set points with a fabulous crosscourt passing shot. A hammer volley snatched the set.

In the second set Cirstea had a chance to break in the first game but it went away from her. Thereafter Azarenka’s relentless baseline superiority began to emerge more clearly.

She broke at the first opportunity and stretched away to win, greeted by what can only be described as tepid applause from the crowd. It was the first time the Centre Court had witnessed a match between these two, but it will surely not be the last.

Azarenka will face Nadia Petrova on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.

Sorana continues at Wimbledon in the doubles competition where she partners with Caroline Wozniacki. The pair won their first round match against Shuai Peng/Su-Wei Hsieh 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

source: wimbledon.org (partial)