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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 64
Sorana Cirstea vs Diane Parry — 6-2 7-5
 Sorana Cirstea✓ | 6 | 7 |
 Diane Parry | 2 | 5 |
Final · Wednesday, September 2, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Diane Parry arrived in New York on the best week of her career: a last-minute entry at the Monterrey 500, she beat Elise Mertens in the final on the eve of the tournament for her first WTA title, having lost all six of her previous tour semi-finals. Sorana Cîrstea, in what the Romanian press reports will be her last season, ended it in an hour and fifty-one minutes on Court 12. The 16th seed took the first set 6-2 and ran off seven games in a row either side of the interval, L'Équipe's live text noting Parry stopping the slide with a hold while still a break down. Parry then made a contest of it: Cîrstea served for the match at 5-4 and was broken — Parry's only break of the match, from three chances — before breaking straight back and serving it out. Parry hit more winners than the winner, thirty to twenty-two, and also thirty-three unforced errors to seventeen and five double faults to one. Cîrstea, a quarter-finalist here in 2023, plays Jasmine Paolini next.
Sorana CirsteaRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
The Round of 64 halves the draw again: 32 women's matches across Wednesday and Thursday, every one of them between players who have already won here this week. The seeds who came through the opening round now meet opponents with form behind them rather than a ranking.
Round of 128
What we know now
What I said beforehand
The preview, frozen before the first serve. Clearly dated, never rewritten — that's the deal that makes the pick worth anything.
The seed against the form, and the form is unusually hot. Parry won the WTA 500 in Monterrey on Saturday — the first tour title of her career — flew to New York and beat Viktorija Golubic 7-5 6-4 on Monday for a sixth straight win, taking five of the six break points she earned. Cirstea has had the better season on paper, 36-15 with a Roland Garros quarter-final and a first appearance in the top 20 at 36, and she beat Julia Grabher 6-3 6-0 in an hour and a half. But she was treated several times on the calf during it, and the last game of a 6-0 set took her over ten minutes and seven saved break points to finish — a body being managed rather than one running away with things. This is the first round of Cirstea's last Grand Slam, and there is no way to know what that does either way. They have never played. Parry's 46 unforced errors on Monday are the reason this is not a bigger split for her: she is winning while playing loose, and Cirstea punishes that.
The case for Sorana Cirstea
62% to winCirstea is 36-15 for the season, ranked 17th, and reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals this year — the only player in this section with a Grand Slam quarter-final on her record at this tournament too, from 2023. She hit 13 winners to 18 unforced errors against Grabher, which is a control player's line, and she has not lost a US Open first round in eight appearances. Six straight wins and a title also mean six matches in nine days in Mexican heat before an overnight flight.
The case for Diane Parry
38% to winParry has won six matches in a row and a WTA 500 title in the last ten days, and she took five of six break points against an opponent who does not give many away. She is 23 to Cirstea's 36 and playing the best fortnight of her life; the 46 unforced errors came with 28 winners, which is the profile of someone going for it rather than someone missing. Cirstea needed the physiotherapist on Monday.
Both cases written 2026-09-01, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine — opinions with a percent sign on. They add to 100 because tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
My locked pick: Sorana Cirstea to advance ✓ RIGHT
“The higher ranking, the cleaner error count and eight straight US Open first rounds survived — against six wins in a row and a fresh title.”
Locked 2026-09-01 01:20 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Sorana CirsteaDiane ParryPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-09-02.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
Storylines
- Parry won her first career tour title, the WTA 500 in Monterrey, two days before the tournament started, and has now won six matches in a row.
- This is the first round of the last Grand Slam of Cirstea's career; she has said she will retire at the end of the season.
- Cirstea was treated several times on the calf during her 6-3 6-0 win over Julia Grabher, and saved seven break points in a final game that ran past ten minutes.
- Parry converted five of the six break points she earned against Viktorija Golubic, who double-faulted on the first match point.
- First meeting; they have never played.
Head to head
They have never met at tour level.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
Court & schedule: Court 12, Wednesday 2 September. The US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before; this one is on the board. (Official US Open order of play, as of 2026-09-02)
Weather: Sunday — the men's final, and the last match of the fortnight — is 78°F with showers and thunderstorms 95% likely, the wettest day of the two weeks and the one day that cannot be pushed back. Ashe closes its roof and plays on. It clears overnight: 20% Sunday night, 20% Monday, then dry and sunny from Tuesday. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-13)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.