Dubai Open: Cirstea saves six match points, knocks out seventh seed Vondrousova

Romanian Sorana Cirstea reached the last four of the Dubai Open by winning against No 7 seed Marketa Vondrousova 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2 at The Aviation Club Tennis Centre on Thursday.

She came back from 6-2, 5-1 down, saving six match points in the process, to secure her place in the semi-finals.

“This has to be the biggest comeback of my career,” Cirstea said on court afterwards. “To be honest, at a set and 5-1, I wasn’t really thinking about winning any more, I was like, ‘At least make it nice for the public! Try to make it a little bit longer! Try to give them a little bit nicer tennis!’

“Somehow I managed to get this win and I still don’t know how I managed it.

Cirstea, ranked No 22, will face Italian Jasmine Paolini next.

The 33-year-old Romanian beat American Sofia Kenin (6-3, 7-6 (2)), Russian Veronika Kudermetova, the No 13 seed (6-1, 6-4) and Croat Donna Vekic (3-6, 6-3, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Dubai tournament, Vondrousova, ranked No 8, defeated American Peyton Stearns (6-1, 5-7, 6-2) and Russian Liudmila Samsonova, the No 12 seed (6-2, 6-2).

Dubai WTA 1000, other quarter-finals results (The Aviation Club Tennis Centre, hard, USD 3.211.715, most recent results first):

• Coco Gauff vs. Anna Kalinskaya
• Iga Swiatek vs. Qinwen Zheng
• Jasmine Paolini vs. Elena Rybakina