“It feels incredible to have come out and played how I did today,” Raducanu said. “Sorana has been in incredible form this year, had some amazing wins, reached a really high ranking and earlier on in the year she beat me. I’m really glad that I could get her back at home.
“I think I played a really high level. I think I had to playing Sorana. I had to go out there, play aggressively and dictate.
“Straight from the get go I actually put a really good game on the court. I’m really pleased that I’m able to play another match here a bit later.”
Three key stats
Effective first serve – 42% of Raducanu’s first serves went unreturned compared to the draw average of 25%
Edging the short rallies – Raducanu won 61% of points in rallies of 0-4 shots
Early breaks – Raducanu broke on Cirstea’s opening service game in both sets to get off on the front foot
The former US Open champion got off to a lightning start against the world No.18, racing out to a 4-0 lead, but left the door open for a potential comeback late in the set.
Cirstea capitalised on back-to-back errors to rescue one break and had the opportunity to level with the scores, tightly poised at 30-40 on the Raducanu serve at 5-4.
Raducanu got the better of a long baseline exchange before producing two unreturnable serves to clinch the opening set.
The British star wasted no time early in the second, clipping the back of the baseline with a punishing forehand to break in the opening game before stretching out to a 4-1 lead once again.
Raducanu dropped just six points behind her serve in a clinical second set. On her second match point, the Brit fired another unreturnable first serve to book her place in another Queen’s Club quarter-final.
It was heartbreak for Dart, who was looking to reach the quarter-final of a grass court WTA 500 for the second time in her career.
Dart pulled off a gutsy break at 5-4 in the deciding set to get back on level terms, but wasn’t able to back it up.
Rakhimova ripped a forehand winner down the line to break for a sixth time in the match and, at the second time of asking, wrapped up the win after two hours and 50 minutes.
The quarter-final will be a first meeting between Raducanu and Rakhimova.