Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea, 36, has reached her career-best ranking of 18 on the WTA list, marking a significant milestone for Romanian tennis. According to the official ranking published on May 18, Cîrstea's performance at the Foro Italico semifinal has catapulted her to this high position. In August 2013, after the Rogers Cup final in Toronto, where she faced Serena Williams, Cîrstea had achieved a ranking of 21 WTA.

Cîrstea is experiencing the best period of her career, following her exceptional performance at the Rome tournament. She defeated world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and other notable players like Linda Noskova and Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 Roland Garros champion.

This year, Cîrstea started at 41 WTA and won the Transylvania Open Cluj-Napoca, becoming the first Romanian to do so, and also triumphed in the Linz tournament. She has expressed a focus on improving her game rather than worrying about her ranking.

Cîrstea, who is the second oldest player to reach the semifinal at Foro Italico after Martina Navratilova, will soon head to Paris for Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of the year. Cîrstea made her Parisian debut in 2008 and reached the quarterfinals in 2009, where she was defeated by Samantha Stosur.

Asked about surpassing her performance from 17 years ago, Cîrstea expressed optimism about maintaining her focus on daily work and discipline.