Tennis
2026-05-14 - Sorana Cirstea vs Coco Gauff
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : WTA 1000 Rome Semi Final
Thursday 14th May 2026 - Scheduled 3pm
2pm (British Time)
Preview
Retirement at the end of the season has already been announced, but there has to be some second thoughts in the Sorana Cirstea camp having played some of the best tennis of her career.
If the Rankings were released in the morning, Sorana Cirstea would be back at her career best World Ranking mark of Number 21 and she is very much trending towards cracking the top 20 for the first time. The veteran is also at Number 11 in the WTA Race to determine the best players in the world and Sorana Cirstea has upset Aryna Sabalenka during her run to the Semi Final here in Rome.
A confident player is a dangerous player and Cirstea has a very solid 10-2 record on the clay courts in the build up towards the French Open.
However, both losses have been against some of the better clay courters on the WTA Tour and one of those came at the hands of Coco Gauff at the Madrid Masters.
The defending French Open Champion has shown plenty of character to come through three setters in her run in Rome and Coco Gauff has long been very comfortable on the clay courts. This is a surface where a vulnerable second serve is not punished nearly as much as it is on the faster surfaces where recovering breaks of serve can be very difficult against the best players on the Tour.
On the clay courts, Coco Gauff will always feel she has enough quality from the return to neutralise rallies and ultimately break down an opponent and she is playing well on the surface this season. The numbers are not quite as good as the previous two seasons, but Gauff has shown she can dig in and overcome problems and that makes her the right favourite in this match.
Beating Sorana Cirstea in all three previous matches on the Tour, including twice this year, will also give the World Number 4 the confidence to push past this opponent again.
It was the Coco Gauff returning prowess that helped her beat Sorana Cirstea in Madrid and she created five more Break Points on the day.
Sorana Cirstea is playing with confidence and an almost 'nothing to lose' attitude, which makes her dangerous, but Coco Gauff can find those breaks of serve that helps her cover this spread set for this last four contest.
Prediction
Lay the games with the higher Ranked player.
The Pick :
Sorana Cirstea 0-2 Coco Gauff
