Athlete of the week

Tennis player Elena-Gabriela Ruse

Florin Orban, 24.10.2023, 13:45

Romania’s most important
tennis tournament has recently drawn to a close in Cluj-Napoca. It is known as WTA
250 Transylvania Open, a women’s tournament with 260 thousand USD in prize
money. Taking part in the tournament have been several top-flight tennis players,
both in women’s singles and in women’s doubles. All eight seeded players in the
women’s singles are ranked among the world’s top 100 tennis players. Among them, Romania’s Sorana
Cîrstea, Alycia Parks of the USA, Belgium’s Greet Minnen or
Spaniard Rebeka Masarova. Apart from Sorana Cirstea, six other Romanian tennis
players have been included in the main draw. Ilona Georgiana Ghioroaie came straight
from the qualifiers. Jaqueline Cristian, Patricia Ţig and Ana Bogdan gained their
admission thanks to their WTA rankings, while Miriam Bulgaru and Elena-Gabriela
Ruse got wild cards. Elena-Gabriela Ruse was the best since she reached as far
as the tournament’s final.

Reason enough for
Radio Romania International to designate Ruse the Athlete of the week.

In Cluj-Napoca, Elena-Gabriela Ruse defeated second-seeded
Alycia Parks, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, in the first round. In the second round, Ruse
defeated Hungarian opponent Anna Bondar, 7-6, 6-2. In
the quarterfinals, Elena Ruse defeated Colombian challenger Emiliana Arango, 6-1, nil-6,
6-1. In the semi-finals, Elena Gabriela Ruse defeated fourth-seeded tennis
player Rebeka Masarova, 6-1, 6-4. However, in the final, Elena Gabriela Ruse
was defeated by Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch, 6-3, 6-4.

Elena-Gabriela Ruse was born on November 6, 1997, in Bucharest. She took
up tennis when she was four and a half years old, with Dinamo Bucharest sports
club. Her career-best so far includes only one WTA women’s singles tournament
she won in Hamburg, in 2021. Also in 202,1 Ruse was a finalist in the Palermo
tournament. In Cluj-Napoca Elena-Gabriela Ruse made it to the finals for the
third time around in her women’s single career. Ruse therefore climbed 61
notches up and now ranks 127th according to the world standings. Elena-Gabriela Ruse was best-placed in May 2022, when she ranked 51st. Elena-Gabriela
Ruse’s performance in the women’s doubles is far more consistent, especially
since she has been pairing up with Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk. Elena Gabriela Ruse
is 37th-placed according to the world’s women’s doubles rankings. In 2023, in
the year’s first Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne, Ruse and Kostyuk reached
as far as the semi-finals.