News Roland Garros 2015. Women's Qualifying Singles

Sorana Cirstea, the French Open fan In 2009, Simona Halep was merely the previous year’s girls’ singles champion – the rising star coming out Romanian tennis at the time was Sorana Cirstea. With her ready smile and outrageous forehand, she made it all the way to the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros at just 19, defeating Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic en route to the second week. Unfortunately for her, she maintained the kind of inconsistency expected in teenagers well into her 20s. Six years on, and Cirstea still only has one WTA title to her name, which she picked up in Tashkent back in 2008. The memory of her thrilling run at the French Open in 2009 seems to inspire her every year upon her return however, and she has reached the third round in Paris on three separate occasions since then (in 2011, 2013 and 2014). So even though she is languishing at No.145 in the world, Cirstea has a reputation to maintain here – particularly since the only players ever to beat her here are either Grand Slam winners and/or world No.1s. Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Li Na, Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic – that’s quite a list that Cirstea has made for herself! 

 Krystina Pliskova, the forgotten twin Meet the Pliskovas and you think you are seeing double. Not only are Karolina and Krystina twins, but they had almost identical junior careers. Karolina, the righty, was junior world No.1 in 2010 after winning the Australian Open. Krystina, the lefty, was also junior world No.1 in 2010 after winning Wimbledon. But while the former is now No.12 in the WTA rankings and knocking on the door of fame and fortune, the latter is having a harder time of things, struggling at No.111 and never having risen above No.86. Her 2015 form thus far, with three ITF titles and another final, should see her into the top 50 sooner rather than later. And who would bet against them taking on the world at doubles – another set of twins, after all, have had a fair deal of success in the men’s game...