Cirstea goes the distance to beat Diyas at Aussie Open

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Sorana Cirstea went the distance in her opening round match that gave her the win she wanted at the Australian Open. While the match was filled with numerous winners and unforced errors, the Romanian held back Zarina Diyas 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 on Court 19 at Melbourne Park.

 The two haven’t met in two years making the first round of a Grand Slam important to them both. The Kazak won their match in Wuhan but knew that the Romanian would bring the challenge on the day. Diyas went deep into Shenzhen which would help her manage the opening round and more if her game was ready.

She got into short trouble with Cirstea up two games to love earning the break during her offensive run. Diyas stopped it in the third on a break that put her into the set with more needed to bring her game up to speed. Diyas rallied to level the score through four with a hold of serve but trailed Cirstea who had her serve together again. While adversity was heavily on court, the 24-year-old stayed even with the Romanian through eight where things would begin taking shape on who would take the set.

Cirstea stayed the course to sit at 5-4 with Diyas on the edge of going down a set. In the tenth, she kept her serve locked to force Cirstea into extra frames that would determine a winner. Diyas earned the first break in a while that gave her a good chance at keeping the set out of her opponent’s hands. She got it done with a magnificent home that gave her a clinch of the set 7-5 ending in 51 minutes. Diyas served 62 percent that was better in the late stages of the set that helped even out the 15 unforced errors to her 10 winners.

Diyas started the second answering Cirstea who got the scoring underway. The Kazak made the biggest point to shutout the Romanian in the second showing her fight to get more than just her own serves on lock. It was a stalemate through the next four games with very little being given up as Cirstea knew of the consequences of dropping anything while down a set to Diyas. By the time the ninth game came to a finish, Cirstea held once again putting the challenge at the feet of the 24-year-old. The Romanian added aggression to her returns that got the best of Diyas giving herself a shot at turning things around in the third. It took her 46 minutes to force a final set while serving below 35 percent.

Cirstea made it her priority to turn the set and be a dominant factor. After each had their opening moments in the third, the Romanian took off gaining a sizable lead on Diyas after four games. She soon made it 4-1 holding off the Kazak at 40-30 to secure the hold and keep the heat on her. Diyas went for a chance to cut the lead in half but Cirstea’s push on the forehand caught her a break to force deuce. After three attempts, Diyas succeeded in denying the Romanian another game break.

While that was the case, Cirstea still had her serve to assist in her gaining ground to victory as she proved well in the seventh sitting a game down from knocking Diyas out. The Kazak refused to go quietly still delivering good shots to Cirstea that added another win to her bottom line. The final game was a fight from the baseline as each delivered a long ball shot which made things difficult on both ends. They took the ninth game to deuce where Diyas made good choices on ball placement. It led Cirstea to do the same wanting the match point. 

Her third attempt was squashed by a winner from the Kazak who planned to make it very difficult. When the rallies got underway, Diyas set up the redirect that kept them locked on deuce saving four match points. On the seventh attempt and fifth of the game, the Romanian got it done yet unsure until the umpire confirmed the point win to bring a close to the match in 2 hours and 18 minutes. 

While a lot of effort went into her first match of the slam, more would come as she faced Czech star Lucie Safarova on Thursday.