Rome, May 9, 2026, 23:05 CEST
Sorana Cirstea sent world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka packing from the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Saturday, battling back for a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory in their third-round clash. The match stretched out for 2 hours, 13 minutes on the clay at Foro Italico.
The stakes are higher with Rome serving as the final major clay-court stop ahead of Roland Garros. The Italian Open, a WTA 1000 tournament, runs May 5-17, just before the French Open’s main draw kicks off May 24-June 7. WTA 1000s sit just under the Grand Slams for prestige and depth of competition on the women’s calendar.
The women’s draw loses its top seed ahead of the second week. According to the WTA, Cirstea, 36, in her announced farewell season, had never previously taken down a world No. 1 until Saturday. Sabalenka was cruising at 6-2, 2-0, but Cirstea found another gear as Sabalenka faltered.
Cirstea called it “really well today” and added that she’s still leaving a “little door” open on retirement. Sabalenka, for her part, said her “body was limiting” her but made sure to praise Cirstea’s “incredible tennis.” Women’s Tennis Association
The upset jolted the pre-match odds. Sabalenka came in as a steep -649 favorite against Cirstea, who sat at +425 on Bleacher Nation’s betting page—a line that clearly signaled Sabalenka was the strong pick to move through.
Cirstea advances to face 13th seed Linda Noskova, after Noskova dispatched Oleksandra Oliynykova 6-1, 6-3. On a different court, No. 3 seed Coco Gauff dropped her opening set to Solana Sierra but rebounded hard, closing it out 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 to remain in the hunt.
Another twist after dark: Anna Kalinskaya, seeded 22nd, knocked out No. 12 Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-3 in just an hour and a half. Bencic had never lost to Kalinskaya in their previous four WTA meetings.
Sky Sports slotted the Bencic-Kalinskaya matchup as part of its third-round WTA Tour coverage out of the Internazionali. Kane Webb of Last Word on Sports, ahead of the match, predicted a fast win for Bencic and urged readers to “take Bencic in straight sets.” Sky Sports
Kalinskaya leaned on relentless return pressure for her victory, rather than a run of good fortune. According to the WTA, she capitalized on five out of eight break chances and grabbed 71.4% of points when landing her first serve. Bencic, on the other hand, managed to pick up just four points out of 20 behind her second serve.
Still, there’s a wrinkle to the Cirstea win. According to Reuters, Sabalenka called for a medical timeout in the third set while trailing 4-3, but managed to claw back to 5-5 before Cirstea broke serve again. If Sabalenka’s back problem subsides, this defeat could easily be chalked up to physical trouble rather than a sign of bigger issues on clay.
Rome’s women’s clay circuit just shifted. Sabalenka is out early, Bencic again falls short of cracking the round of 32, and Cirstea—calling this her goodbye season—forces her way into the last 16. The draw takes on a fresh look by evening, thanks to the kind of gritty result Cirstea just delivered.
