The Romanian girl is being incredibly violent!

Sorana Cîrstea is playing her final season on tour, and she’s turning it into something remarkable. A semifinalist in Rome three weeks ago, she’s coming into this Roland-Garros in the best form she’s shown in years. Her three matches in Paris have been quick affairs: a win over Efremova in 1h10, over Lys in 1h03, then a 6–0 6–0 against Solana Sierra on Friday in 56 minutes, making her, at 36, the oldest player in the Open Era to record a double bagel at a Grand Slam. On clay over the last 52 weeks, she has 9 wins and 3 losses at WTA level, and 13–2 against players ranked outside the top 100, which is exactly Wang Xiyu’s profile. The H2H stands at 2–1 for Cîrstea, with the most recent meeting on clay in Rouen in April 2026 won by the Romanian.

Wang Xiyu is a lefty, a qualifier, and one of the stories of this tournament. She beat Starodubtseva in the third round, the player who had just knocked out Rybakina, after benefiting from Baptiste’s withdrawal in the second round. She comes in on a six-match winning streak, carried by confidence built round after round since qualifying. But her career record on clay at WTA level is 11 wins to 14 losses, and against top-50 players over the last 52 weeks she’s at 0 wins and 4 losses. Cîrstea is ranked 18th in the world and a proven clay-courter. She’s a structurally different wall from anything Wang has faced this week.

Cîrstea is clearly in a state of grace, freed up by the announcement of her retirement at the end of the season, and her level of play on clay in 2026 is that of a player determined to finish in style. Wang can hold her own for a set, create a few moments with her lefty ball on the heavier Sunday clay, but the gap in level, the recent H2H, and the outsider’s stats against the top 50 all point to a one-way scenario.