Sony Ericsson WTA Tour

JANUARY - Fell 1r at Sydney (l. to No.2 seed Safina); fell 1r at Australian Open (l. to Czink).

FEBRUARY - Fell 1r at Paris [Indoors] (l. to WC Dechy in 3s); fell 1r at Dubai (l. to No.12 seed Cibulkova).

MARCH - Dropped opener at Indian Wells (as No.32 seed w/1r bye, l. to Vesnina in 3s in 2r); dropped opener at Miami (l. to qualifier Koryttseva).

APRIL - Reached SF at Marbella (as No.7 seed, d. No.3 seed Kanepi en route, falling to No.5 seed Suarez Navarro in 3s; had been 0-6 on year previously); fell 1r at Barcelona (as No.8 seed, l. to qualifier Yakimova); fell 1r at Fès (as No.5 seed, l. to Dominguez Lino).

MAY - Reached QF at Estoril (as No.3 seed, l. to eventual champion Wickmayer in 3s); fell 1r at Madrid (l. to A.Bondarenko); reached first Grand Slam QF at Roland Garros (d. No.21 seed Cornet, No.10 seed Wozniacki and No.5 seed Jankovic en route, falling to No.30 seed Stosur; wins over world No.10 Wozniacki and world No.5 Jankovic were second and third Top 10 wins); made Top 30 debut afterwards on June 8 (rose from No.41 to No.27).

JUNE - Withdrew from Birmingham w/back injury; reached 2r at 's-Hertogenbosch (as No.4 seed, l. to WC Wickmayer); reached 3r at Wimbledon (as No.28 seed, l. to No.8 seed Azarenka).

JULY - Reached 2r at Bastad (as No.5 seed, l. to Dulko 63 46 76(5); held 4mp - 3mp at 5-3 third set, 1mp at 5-4 third set); fell 1r at Stanford (l. to No.7 seed A.Radwanska).

AUGUST - Reached SF at Los Angeles (d. No.4 seed Wozniacki and No.8 seed A.Radwanska en route, falling to No.13 seed Stosur; win over world No.8 Wozniacki was fourth Top 10 win); reached 3r at Cincinnati (l. to No.4 seed Dementieva); reached 3r at US Open (as No.24 seed, l. to No.9 seed Wozniacki).

SEPTEMBER - Withdrew from Guangzhou w/right foot injury; fell 1r at Seoul (as No.4 seed, l. to Groenefeld in 3s); fell 1r at Tokyo (l. to No.14 seed Bartoli); fell 1r at Beijing (l. to No.7 seed Zvonareva).

OCTOBER - Fell 1r at Linz (as No.6 seed, l. to qualifier Goerges); fell 1r at Moscow (ret. vs. Niculescu w/right foot injury).

2004 - Played first events of career on ITF Circuit, winning two doubles titles.

2005 - Won one singles title and two doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2006 - Played first Tour main draw at Stockholm, falling 1r (l. to Kanepi); fell in Tour qualifying once; won two singles titles and two doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2007 - Near-Top 100 season; in only second Tour main draw, runner-up at Budapest (l. to Dulko in final); was first Romanian to reach a Tour singles final since Dragomir Ilie in June 2000 (who was runner-up to Hingis at 's-Hertogenbosch); SF at Bali (d. No.13 Schnyder en route for first Top 20 win; l. to Hantuchova); played four more Tour main draws, best result being 2r at Palermo (l. to Domínguez Lino); fell in Tour qualifying three times (incl. Wimbledon, US Open); win over Gallovits in Bali QF was 100th career singles match win; won one singles title and two doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2008 - Breakthrough season, highlighted by first Tour singles title at Tashkent (as No.3 seed, d. No.4 seed Lisicki in final), SF at Luxembourg (as No.8 seed, d. No.3 seed Hantuchova en route; l. to top seed and eventual champion Dementieva) and four QF, at Acapulco (l. to No.7 seed Kanepi 62 46 76(6); held 2mp at 6-4 in tie-break), Fès (as No.7 seed, l. to No.2 seed and eventual champion Dulko), 's-Hertogenbosch (as WC, d. No.6 seed Kirilenko en route; l. to top seed Dementieva) and New Haven (d. No.6 seed Pennetta en route; l. to top seed Chakvetadze); best result in other 12 Tour main draws was 3r at Charleston (d. No.3 seed Chakvetadze en route; l. to Cornet); fell 1r or 2r 11 times, incl. Grand Slam main draw debuts at Australian Open (l. to No.4 seed Ivanovic in 1r), Roland Garros (l. to Azarenka in 2r), Wimbledon (l. to No.16 seed Azarenka in 2r) and US Open (l. to No.3 seed Kuznetsova in 2r), also Olympics (l. to Peer in 3s in 1r); fell in Tour qualifying twice; had second through fifth Top 20 wins, at Charleston (No.6 Chakvetadze; first Top 10 win), 's-Hertogenbosch (No.19 Kirilenko), New Haven (No.17 Pennetta) and Luxembourg (No.15 Hantuchova); made Top 100 debut on February 25 (after Bogotá; rose from No.107 to No.100) and Top 50 debut on September 8 (after US Open; rose from No.53 to No.45), reaching career-high No.36 on October 27; won first two Tour doubles titles at Fès (w/Pavlyuchenkova) and Luxembourg (w/Erakovic), and finished runner-up at New Haven (w/Niculescu; l. to Peschke/Raymond in final); won one doubles title on ITF Circuit.

SINGLES
Winner (1): 2008 - Tashkent; 2007 - ITF/Bucharest 6-ROU; 2006 - ITF/Albufeira-POR, ITF/Bucharest 2-ROU; 2005 - ITF/Porto Santo 6-POR.
Finalist (1): 2007 - Budapest.
Semifinalist (3): 2009 - Marbella; 2008 - Luxembourg; 2007 - Bali.
Quarterfinalist (6): 2009 - Estoril, Roland Garros; 2008 - Acapulco, Fès, 's-Hertogenbosch, New Haven.

DOUBLES
Winner (2): 2008 - Fès (w/Pavlyuchenkova), Luxembourg (w/Erakovic), ITF/Athens 2-GRE (w/Voskoboeva); 2007 - ITF/Las Palmas de Gran Canaria-ESP (w/Gojnea), ITF/Bucharest 6-ROU (w/Szatmari); 2006 - ITF/Bucharest 1-ROU (w/Niculescu), ITF/Madrid 2-ESP (w/O'Brien); 2005 - ITF/Porto Santo 4-POR, ITF/Porto Santo 5-POR (both w/Orasanu); 2004 - ITF/Timisoara-ROU, ITF/Arad-ROU (both w/Niculescu).
Finalist (3): 2009 - Barcelona (w/Klepac), Fès (w/Kirilenko); 2008 - New Haven (w/Niculescu).

ADDITIONAL
Romanian Fed Cup Team, 2006; Romanian Olympic Team, 2008.

Coached by the adidas Development Program; fitness coach is Teo Cercel ... Introduced to tennis at age 4 by mother, Liliana and father, Mihai; brother, Mihnea, is five years her junior ... Full name is Sorana Mihaela Cirstea ... Speaks Romanian, English and Spanish and is studying French ... Likes all surfaces; favorite shot is forehand ... Enjoys playing all ball sports, going shopping, watching movies, reading, doing crosswords and looking after her two parrots ... Favorite cities are New York and London ("big cities with lots to do") ... Self-described as ambitious, stubborn and happy ... Most admires Steffi Graf ... Goal is to reach Top 10.

- Junior highlights include doubles runner-up finish at 2007 Roland Garros (w/Glatch); ranked No.1 on U14 world rankings in 2003.