World No 1 beaten 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in third round in Rome
Jannik Sinner eases through; Cameron Norrie out
Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1, suffered her earliest defeat in more than a year as she was toppled in the third round of the Italian Open by the soaring Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea, who brilliantly held her nerve to close out a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 win.
The defeat marks a second successive surprise loss for Sabalenka, who started the clay-court season in some of the best form of her career after consecutive victories at the WTA 1000 events at Indian Wells and Miami. Until her quarter-final defeat to Hailey Baptiste at the Madrid Open last week, where Baptiste spectacularly saved six match points, Sabalenka had started the year by winning 26 of her first 27 matches.
This is also the first time Sabalenka has lost before the quarter-final stage at any tournament since February 2025 and she will head to the French Open having failed to reach the semi-final in any clay-court tournament this year. Sabalenka also has fresh injury concerns to address after struggling with a lower back injury in the final stages of the match.
