Monica Niculescu
Monica Niculescu ( born September 25, 1987 in Slatina ) is a Romanian tennis player.
- 3.1 Individual
- 3.2 double
Career
Niculescu won in individual already 16 tournaments on the ITF Women's Circuit. Her achievements on the WTA tour she celebrated first with the three-time moving into a quarter-final: 2008 they lost in Tashkent on hard court (Category: Tier IV ) against Peng Shuai in the third set with 4:6, in the following year, she succumbed in Strasbourg on sand and in Tashkent on hard court (both Category International ) Aravane Rezai and Yaroslava Shvedova each in the third set. Once she was so far in the second round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2011 U.S. Open. 2013 Niculescu won the first edition of the WTA Brasil Tennis Cup in Florianópolis and thus her first WTA singles title, defeating in the final Olga Putschkowa in three sets.
In doubles, she won her first WTA title in 2009 at a tournament in Budapest, as she and her partner Alissa Kleibanowa defeated the sisters Kateryna Bondarenko and Alyona in straight sets in the final. Her second title win was followed in January 2012 on the side of her compatriot Irina -Camelia Begu in Hobart. At Grand Slam tournaments she celebrated in 2010 on the side of Israeli Shahar Peer with the move into the quarterfinals of the French Open (two- set defeat against the Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez ) their greatest success they 2012 at the Australian Open was able to confirm on the side of Irina -Camelia Begu (two- set defeat in the quarter-final against the pairing of Svetlana Kuznetsova / Vera Swonarjowa ). She also won 21 ITF tournaments with changing partners.
2011 should be by far the best year for the Romanian. Already at the Australian Open, she reached after victories against Timea Bacsinszky and the set Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova the third round, where she Francesca Schiavone with 0:6, 6:7 defeated. When Sandplatztunier in Estoril, she moved to a 5:7, 6:4, 6:2 over Jarmila Gajdošová the semi-finals, where they defeated the eventual tournament winner Anabel Medina Garrigues in two straight sets.
After minor injury problems in the summer, she traveled in 2011 recovered well at the U.S. Open, where she moved into the second round of a Grand Slam tournament after clear victories over Patricia Mayr- Achleitner, Alexandra Dulgheru and Lucie Šafářová first time in her career, but there to Angelique Kerber failed. At the Premier Mandatory tournament in Beijing she could confirm their good shape by the main field, the reigning French Open champion Li Na defeated as a qualifier 6-4, 6-0, and advanced all the semi-finals, where she defeated Andrea Petkovic.
At the last WTA tournament of the year in Luxembourg she managed the first entry into a finale, after she had had to fend off in the first round of match points against the qualifier Karin Knapp. After close wins over Anabel Medina Garrigues, Lucie Hradecká and Anne Keothavong Unfortunately, she was in the final against the top-seeded Belarusian Azarenka Wiktoryja chance. The well-established end of the season WTA points were sufficient but to place for the first time in her career in the top 30 in the world rankings and thus close the year when the Romanian tennis player the highest listed.
At the Australian Open, she reached in 2012 with victories over the Frenchwoman Alizé Cornet and Pauline Parmentier again the third round, where they eliminated against Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. In the final of Luxembourg, she stood against Venus Williams at the 2:6, 3:6 a losing battle.
At the beginning of 2014 she won in Shenzhen and Hobart each on the side of Klára Zakopalová her WTA doubles title number three and four.