Sorana Cirstea (age 36) becomes oldest woman to debut in Top 20

Field Level Media|published: Mon 18th May, 17:58 2026

Mar 8, 2026; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Sorana Cirstea (ROU) during her third round match against Linda Noskova (CZE) in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Romania's Sorana Cirstea became the oldest player to make her Top 20 rankings debut in WTA history when she was No. 18 in the update released Monday.

Cirstea, 36, previously reached No. 21 in both 2013 and 2014 but was unable to crack the Top 20. More recently, she reached No. 22 in 2024, No. 25 in 2023 and No. 24 in 2022.

Cirstea is coming off a stellar performance at the Italian Open that saw her move up nine spots from No. 27. She took down World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Round of 32 before eventually losing to third-seeded Coco Gauff in the semifinals.

Prior to the season, Cirstea announced that she would retire after the campaign. But she is off a rousing start with a 27-8 singles record and one title, which came in her native Romania. It was her fourth career title.

Her recent form makes her a surprise player to watch at the upcoming French Open. Cirstea's best finish at Roland Garros was reaching the quarterfinals in 2009. She also made the U.S. Open quarterfinals in 2023.

Cirstea's next singles victory will be the 600th of a professional career that began in 2008.

The previous record for oldest Top 20 debut belonged to Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who was 35 in 2017 when debuting in the rankings, which began in November 1975.

--Field Level Media

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