Two major women’s tennis tournaments were held
\nlast week, according to the professional circuit calendar. Both events were
\nheld on hard court. Romanian tennis players competed in both tournaments and their
\nrun was excellent. In the WTA 250 tennis tournament in Prague, an event with 260
\nthousand USD in prize money, Jaqueline Cristian reached as far as the semifinals
\nof the women’s singles, where she sustained a hard-fought defeat by Japan’s Nao
\nHibino. As part of a WTA 500 tournament in Washington, an event with 780 thousand
\nUSD up for grabs, Monica Niculescu, pairing up with Alexa Guarachi of Chile, reached
\nas far as the women’s doubles finals. Niculescu and Guarachi were defeated by
\nthe German-Russian pair made of Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We were spoiled
\nfor choice, since both Jaqueline and Monica equally deserved to be the Athlete of
\nthe week. However, the tournament in Washington was a little bit more difficult
\nthan the one in Prague, not to mention the fact that Monica Niculescu was closer
\nto winning the tournament, so Radio Romania International designated Niculescu
\nthe Athlete of the Week.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Monica was born in Slatina on September 25,
\n1987.S he has been living in Bucharest since she was four. Monica took up tennis
\nat the age of five and has been a pro since 2002. Her career-best according to
\nthe women’s singles rankings occurred in February 2012 when she was 28th-placed.
\nNiculescu won three WTA singles tournaments, in 2013, in Brazil’s Florianopolis, in Guangzhou, China, in 2014 and in Luxembourg in 2016.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Monica Niculescu’s career in women’s doubles was
\nmuch richer. She won 10 WTA tournaments. We recall that in 2009, pairing up with
\nRussia’s Alisa Kleybanova, Niculescu won the tournament in Budapest. Monica was
\nbest-placed according to the WTA women’s doubles rankings in April 2011, when she
\nclimbed up to the 11th position. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Early in 2018, Monica Niculescu advanced to the
\nquarterfinals of the Hobart tournament jointly with British tennis player Alicia
\nBarnett. Then in the Australian Open she paired up with Swiss Viktorija
\nGolubic with whom she reached as far as the round of 16. The final of the
\nWashington tournament was the second Monica played in 2023, after the final in
\nBad Homburg, when she sustained a defeat alongside Japan’s Eri Hozumi. Monica Niculescu is 28th-placed according to the
\nas-it-stands WTA women’s doubles rankings. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tennis player Monica Niculescu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[29748,30560,91871,35178,28939,30285],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-120231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-doubles","tag-final","tag-place","tag-round","tag-tennis","tag-tournament"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n