British No. 1 Emma Raducanu’s hopes of a second career title were thwarted by fatigue and the skilled talents of home favorite Sorana Cirstea, the third seed, in the WTA 250 Transylvania Open final, winning 6-0 6-2 in 63 minutes.
I will retire from tennis at the end of this year, and I will retire a happy person – and that is thanks to the memories you gave me this week in Cluj! Sorana Cirstea
The top seed, whose father is Romanian, appeared to be feeling the effects of her marathon semi-final victory against Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova on Friday, in which she was pushed to the limit just 24 hours earlier, and had no answers to Cirstea’s big blow that put her under early pressure.
“It was a great feeling to be in the final,” Raducanu said afterwards. “I feel like I had a great week myself, I really enjoyed playing here, the crowd made me feel like I was at home, and it was a special week for me.
“Today I didn’t feel great, but I’m not going to let that take away from a good week.”
The 23-year-old Brit has played impressive tennis this week, recording victories over Greet Minnen, Kaja Juvan, Maja Chwalinska and Oleksandra Oliynykova, which will give her a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.
Despite losing in the final, Raducanu can certainly take many positives from her week in Romania. Not only did she reach her first WTA final since the 2021 US Open, but she is now poised to rise back into the world’s Top 25 at No. 25 on Monday.
WTAtennis.com
The 35-year-old Cirstea has played virtually flawless tennis all week and has not dropped a set in her run to the title.
The Romanian won the first seven points, breaking Raducanu in her first service game after the Briton saved five break points, and then bagged the opening set without losing a game.
Playing in front of her home crowd, Cirstea kept her foot on the accelerator, winning 68% of points against the Raducanu serve in the opener, 17 to 28, and hitting nine winners against the Brit’s 1, breaking twice more to see out the set in 30 minutes.
19 unforced errors were a problem for the British No. 1 as she fired a forehand long to give Cirstea a 2-0 lead in the second, but broke straight back to get herself on the scoreboard.
Raducanu took out the trainer at the next change of ends and appeared to be struggling on the court, but recovered enough to hold her serve for the first time and make it 2–2, although she could not maintain her momentum as Cirstea regrouped to play the next 3 matches and lead 5–2.
The Briton had nothing left in the tank as she served to stay in the match and in the next game she lost her serve for the sixth time as Cirstea took the title, having lost just two points at 4-2 to claim the fourth WTA title of her 20-year career, thrilling the partisan home crowd.
The Transylvania Open final brought together two players who reached this stage through different but equally compelling paths.
The 35-year-old Cirstea played almost flawless tennis all week and dominated all her matches, without dropping a single set on her way to the trophy, while Raducanu, on the other hand, had to fight hard in every round and excelled when the situation required it.
The Romanian won the first seven points, breaking Raducanu in her first service game after the Brit had saved five break points, and then bagged the opening set without losing a game.
Playing in front of her home crowd, Cirstea kept her foot on the accelerator, winning 68% of points against the Raducanu serve in the opener, 17 to 28, and hitting nine winners against the Brit’s 1, breaking twice more to see out the set in 30 minutes.
19 unforced errors were a problem for the British No. 1 as she fired a forehand long to give Cirstea a 2-0 lead in the second, but broke straight back to get herself on the scoreboard.
Raducanu took out the trainer at the next change of ends and appeared to be struggling on the court, but recovered enough to hold her serve for the first time and make it 2–2, although she could not maintain her momentum as Cirstea regrouped to play the next 3 matches and lead 5–2.
The Briton had nothing left in the tank as she served to stay in the match and in the next game she lost her serve for the sixth time as Cirstea took the title, having lost just two points at 4-2 to claim the fourth WTA title of her 20-year career, thrilling the partisan home crowd.
Cirstea delivered 6 aces and swept the last 4 games to close out the match, while Raducanu coughed up 6 double faults.
Sorana Cirstea did not drop a set to win the Transylvania Trophy in Romania
WTAtennis.com
It was a special farewell for the Romanian, who announced earlier this year that 2026 will be her final season as a WTA Tour player as her Transylvania Open efforts see her rise to No. 31 in the world.
“I will retire from tennis at the end of this year, and I will retire a happy person – and that is thanks to the memories you gave me this week in Cluj!” Cirstea said in her emotional speech to the court.
For Cirstea, this was her first WTA tournament victory on Romanian soil, achieved in her last appearance in Cluj-Napoca, while it would have been Raducanu’s first WTA title and her second career trophy since the US Open 5 years later.
This match was loaded with meaning and could very well redefine their respective careers.
It was the first time that two British players had competed in the WTA singles final on the same weekend, with Katie Boulter taking the WTA 250 Ostrava Open title in the Czech Republic on Saturday.
Britain’s Olivia Nicholls also ended her week in second place at the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi, alongside Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova.
The 4th seeds lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova & Maya Joint, 3-6 7-6(5) [10-8]in their first finale of the season.
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