Emma Raducanu didn't win her second career WTA title at the Transylvania. After playing a somewhat underwhelming field during her run, she was rather destroyed by Sorana Cirstea in the final. Cirstea, in her final year on the WTA tour, won 6-0, 6-2.
The score was indicative of the match. Cirstea played well, but Raducanu performed horribly. She had no aces, but six double faults. She faced 14 break points in two sets and was broken six times. While she landed 69 percent of her first serves, she won just 50 percent of those serves. It was brutal.
Still, Emma Raducanu shouldn't be too upset. Even getting to the final, no matter who she was playing, was a win. It was only the second final of her career. She might be seeing an uptick in form after recently breaking with her coach of only six months.
Sorana Cirstea defeats Emma Raducanu in the final of the Transylvania Open
Raducanu has skill and can move well; there is no doubt about that. A player, even while not facing a top-10-ranked opponent, doesn't sweep through a Grand Slam without talent. Yet, the Brit did just that on her way to winning the 2021 US Open. She almost did the same in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
That Cirstea won the event is more heart-warming, of course. It is the final time she will play in her home tournament, and going out a winner is something we all wish we could do. She will move up to No. 31 when the new rankings are released. In other words, she is ending her career with some flair instead of fading out.
Emma Raducanu is a winner, too. She will rise to No. 25, and having success at the beginning of the year could be extremely important to her building momentum to help her get back to the level she was when she reached a career high of No. 10 after winning the US Open.
While Boris Becker threw some shade her way earlier this week after a tennis journalist had tweeted out Raducanu reaching the semis in Transylvania, and that was the fifth time she had made a run that deep in a tournament, Raducanu got a little bit of revenge. She made the final, and it might not be her last final of 2026.