Cirstea saves 6 match points in Dubai quarterfinals win over Vondrousova

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova lost from 6-2, 5-1 ahead against Sorana Cirstea in the Dubai Championships quarterfinals on Thursday.

Vondrousova blew six match points in losing 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2.

World No. 3 Coco Gauff also lost from a set up when she was run down by qualifier Anna Kalinskaya 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

That left No. 1 Iga Swiatek as the only seed in the semifinals from 16 that started the tournament. Swiatek will play 40th-ranked Kalinskaya on Friday. The 22nd-ranked Cirstea faces 26th-ranked Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the other semi.

Cirstea won her two other most recent matchups with Vondrousova but the 18-year tour pro from Romania admitted she thought she was going to lose heavily in Dubai.

“This has to be the biggest comeback of my career,” Cirstea said. “To be honest, at a set and 5-1, I wasn’t really thinking about winning anymore. I was like, make it nicer for the public, try to make it a little bit longer, try to give them a little bit of nicer tennis. I still don’t know how I managed it.”

She started swinging freely while No. 7-seeded Vondrousova gradually grew more passive.

Cirstea saved two match points at 5-1 down with aces. At 5-2, she saved another with a drive volley as she took control of the center of the court.

Two more match points were denied at 5-3 on serve. Vondrousova served for the match a third time at 6-5 but Cirstea wrong-footed the Czech to rub out a sixth match point.

Cirstea rode the momentum through the tiebreaker and third set.