Unseeded Cirstea, Paolini advance to Dubai semifinals

Jasmine Paolini advanced to the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships via walkover after her quarterfinal opponent Elena Rybakina was forced to withdraw due to gastrointestinal illness.

"Unfortunately I was not feeling well overnight, and since I am not feeling 100% ready to compete I have decided to pull out from my quarterfinal match today against Jasmine Paolini," said world no. 4 Rybakina, who recently won the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open and reached the final of last week’s Qatar Open.

No. 26-ranked Paolini will face another unseeded player in Sorana Cirstea, who pulled off a remarkable comeback win over No. 7 seed Marketa Vondrousova.

Cirstea saved six match points en route to a 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-2 victory in 2 hours and 41 minutes.

'This has to be the biggest comeback of my career... To be honest, at a set and 5-1, I was like, at least make it nice for the public' 😅@sorana_cirstea | #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/oBnA59jgWj

— wta (@WTA) February 22, 2024