Athlete of the Week – Tennis Player Monica Niculescu

Monica Niculescu won the doubles final in the WTA tournament in Hobart.

Florin Orban, 14.01.2014, 12:48

The tennis season is already in full swing, with several WTA tournaments already underway in Australia and New Zealand. Earlier this month the Australian Open kicked off in Melbourne.

Last Saturday, Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu paired up with Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic to win the doubles finals of the WTA tennis tournament in Hobart, totaling 250,000 dollars in prize money. The two outperformed the pair seeded second in the tournament, Lisa Raymond of the United States and Shuai Zhang of China, final score 6-2, 6-7, 10-8.

For her remarkable achievement, we have designated Monica Niculescu Athlete of the Week on RRI. Let us further note that Niculescu and Zakopalova have won their second consecutive title in the WTA season this year, after only a week ago they won the Shenzhen doubles competition in China. This is Niculescu’s fourth consecutive WTA doubles title. In 2012, also in Hobart, Niculescu won the final alongside another Romanian, Irina Begu, while in 2009 she won the doubles event with Alisa Kleibanova of Russia.

Monica Niculescu was born on September 25, 1987 in Slatina, Southern Romania. She moved to Bucharest at the age of four and took up tennis at five. She turned pro in 2002. The highest WTA ranking of her career was 28 in February 2012. At present she ranks 64th in the singles standings and 51st in the doubles standings.

Niculescu is currently playing in the Australian Open’s singles competition. In the first round she