Last week tennis player Monica Niculescu won the WTA tournament in Limoges, France, totaling $115,000. The Romanian was seeded fifth in the competition. In the first round, Niculescu edged out Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania, 6-3, 6-5. She then ousted another Romanian, Elena-Gabriela Ruse, in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. The third round pitted Monica against Anna Blinkova of Russia, who in the previous round had knocked out the number one seed, Alize Cornet of France. The Romanian however won the game easily, 6-2, 6-1. Niculescu needed three sets to defeat Pauline Parmentier in the semi-finals. Niculescu lost the first set 3-6, but came back into the game and won the second and third sets, 7-5, 6-2 respectively. In the final game, Monica won against Antonia Lottner of Germany, 6-3, 6-2, at the end of 1 hour and 13 minutes of playtime.<\/p>\n
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For her win in Limoges, we have designated Monica Niculescu Athlete of the Week on Radio Romania International.<\/p>\n
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Monica Niculescu was born in Slatina on September 25, 1987. She has been living in Bucharest since she was four. She started tennis at the age of five and turned pro in 2002. Her highest ranking in the WTA singles was 28th place in 2012. In the doubles standings her best ranking was 15th place in 2016. She is now 78th ranked in the singles and 23rd ranked in the doubles. So far Monica Niculescu has won 12 WTA tournaments, 4 in the singles and 8 in the doubles.<\/p>\n
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(translated by: Vlad Palcu)<\/em><\/p>\n
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