Two major women’s tennis tournaments were held
last week, according to the professional circuit calendar. Both events were
held on hard court. Romanian tennis players competed in both tournaments and their
run was excellent. In the WTA 250 tennis tournament in Prague, an event with 260
thousand USD in prize money, Jaqueline Cristian reached as far as the semifinals
of the women’s singles, where she sustained a hard-fought defeat by Japan’s Nao
Hibino. As part of a WTA 500 tournament in Washington, an event with 780 thousand
USD up for grabs, Monica Niculescu, pairing up with Alexa Guarachi of Chile, reached
as far as the women’s doubles finals. Niculescu and Guarachi were defeated by
the German-Russian pair made of Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva.
We were spoiled
for choice, since both Jaqueline and Monica equally deserved to be the Athlete of
the week. However, the tournament in Washington was a little bit more difficult
than the one in Prague, not to mention the fact that Monica Niculescu was closer
to winning the tournament, so Radio Romania International designated Niculescu
the Athlete of the Week.
Monica was born in Slatina on September 25,
1987.S he has been living in Bucharest since she was four. Monica took up tennis
at the age of five and has been a pro since 2002. Her career-best according to
the women’s singles rankings occurred in February 2012 when she was 28th-placed.
Niculescu won three WTA singles tournaments, in 2013, in Brazil’s Florianopolis, in Guangzhou, China, in 2014 and in Luxembourg in 2016.
Monica Niculescu’s career in women’s doubles was
much richer. She won 10 WTA tournaments. We recall that in 2009, pairing up with
Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova, Niculescu won the tournament in Budapest. Monica was
best-placed according to the WTA women’s doubles rankings in April 2011, when she
climbed up to the 11th position.
Early in 2018, Monica Niculescu advanced to the
quarterfinals of the Hobart tournament jointly with British tennis player Alicia
Barnett. Then in the Australian Open she paired up with Swiss Viktorija
Golubic with whom she reached as far as the round of 16. The final of the
Washington tournament was the second Monica played in 2023, after the final in
Bad Homburg, when she sustained a defeat alongside Japan’s Eri Hozumi. Monica Niculescu is 28th-placed according to the
as-it-stands WTA women’s doubles rankings.
