The first
\nGrand Slam tournament of the year, the Australian Open is the headline-hitting
\nevent early into 2019. Ahead of the Australian Open, a string of other tournaments
\nwere held in the region, in such cities as Brisbane, Sydney and Auckland. In the women’s singles, Romanian tennis players
\nwere unable to go past the quarterfinals, not even in one of the aforementioned
\nevents. In the women’s doubles, Monica Niculescu was the best-placed Romanian
\ntennis player. In Hobart, the Romanian-Chinese pair made of Monica and Zhaoxuan
\nYang this past Friday did not succeed to go past the semifinals. Nonetheless,
\nit was the best performance of the past days, so Radio Romania International
\nhas designated Monica Niculescu the Athlete of the week.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In Hobart, where prize money amounted to 250,000 dollars, Monica
\nNiculescu and Zhaxouan Yang were the third-seed pair. In the first round,
\nNiculescu and Zhaxouan Yang defeated the all-Chinese pair made of Xinyu Jiang
\nand Shuai Yhang , 6-4, 6-2. In the quarterfinals, the two defeated Raluca Olaru
\nand Galina Voskoboeba of Kazakhstan, 6-1, 6-4. However, in the semifinal,
\ntop-seed pair, made of Hao-Ching Chan and Latisha Chan of Taiwan, defeated
\nNiculescu and Yang, 6-3, 6-4. Niculescu and Yang received 1,718 dollars and 110
\nWTA points according to the doubles’ rankings. We recall that in Hobart, Monica
\nNiculescu emerged as women’s’ doubles champion, in 2012 and 2014. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Monica Niculescu ‘s start at this year’s Australian Open was no so
\nauspicious, as in the women’s singles Monica was eliminated in the very first
\nround by American opponent Amanda Anisimova in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Monica
\nNiculescu was born in Slatina, on September 25, 1987. She has been living in Bucharest
\never since she was 4. Monica took up tennis at the age of 5 and has been a
\nprofessional tennis player since 2002. Monica Niculescu’s career best so far in
\nthe women’s singles is the 28th place in February 2012. In the women’s
\ndoubles, Niculescu climbed as high as the 11th place in April 2018.
\nAt the moment, Niculescu is ranked 99th according to women’s singles
\nstandings, and 41st, according to women’s doubles standings. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monica Niculescu had a good run in the women’s doubles at Hobart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":118017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[29795,33000,29318,41612],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-119019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-australian-open","tag-hobart-tournament","tag-monica-niculescu","tag-zhaoxuan-yang"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n