PARIS, June 2 (Reuters) - Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea saluted Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva's personality and power, calling her a "blessing" for the sport after going down in a lopsided French Open quarter-final on Tuesday.
Weeks after a three-set battle between the duo in the Linz quarter-finals, 19-year-old Andreeva scored her second win over her frequent practice partner by sealing a 6-0 6-3 victory at Roland Garros.
Andreeva has now emerged as one of the top contenders to challenge for the title in a depleted draw that still features world number one Aryna Sabalenka, but is without defending champion Coco Gauff and four-times winner Iga Swiatek.
"I absolutely adore Mirra," Cirstea told reporters.
"She's such a wonderful girl. She has a beautiful team ... she's surrounded herself with such good people. She's a blessing for the sport ... such a sweet, nice, kind girl, but also at the same time has a very good personality.
"She's very funny and she plays amazing tennis, so I think she has everything that someone would dream of. I would really like for her to win this one."
Andreeva will face Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk for a place in her maiden Grand Slam final, while Cirstea bowed out of Paris for the final time following her decision to retire when the season concludes.
"I'm sticking to my decision. Nothing has changed in my mind. I'm just very grateful and how the year is going and the way I'm playing again overall was a solid tournament," the 36-year-old said.
"But again, today I felt the conditions were very slow. I wasn't able to hurt her with anything. She really played very well. I think my level (was) a little bit low and her level is high. This is the difference."
Despite not having gone past the quarter-finals of a major in her career, Cirstea said she was happy with how it unfolded over two decades.
"The longevity of my career is one of the things I'm the most proud of," she added.
"I never expected I would play past 30, to be honest ... the way I fought, the way I evolved as a player and a person through these years, through tennis, this sport has taught me so much.
"I'm just very blessed and very grateful. These are things I'll take with me for the rest of my life."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris)
