Ioana Raluca Olaru (born 3 March 1989) is a professional
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player from Romania. The winner of 11 singles and 15 doubles
ITF titles,
[Sony Ericsson WTA Tour , Players , Stats , Ioana Raluca Olaru](_blank)
/ref> Olaru reached one WTA singles final, at the 2009 Gastein Ladies,WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tourna ...
Petkovic, Olaru Into Final
(25 July 2009) losing to Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic (, ; born 9 September 1987) is a German former professional tennis player. Born in Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia, to Serbian father Zoran and Bosniak mother Amira, she moved to Germany at six months old and turned professional in 2006 a ...
, in straight sets.Sony Ericsson WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tourn ...
Petkovic Wins First Tour Title
(26 July 2009) She also has won eleven doubles titles on WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tourna ...
tournaments.
Olaru was a successful junior player. She was the runner–up in both junior singles and doubles at the 2005 French Open
The 2005 French Open was the 109th edition of the tournament.
On the men's side, Rafael Nadal, seeded fourth at his first French Open, was a strong favorite to win the singles title after winning the Monte Carlo and Rome Masters. Guillermo Coria ...
,[Sony Ericsson WTA Tour , Players , Info (Awards) , Ioana Raluca Olaru](_blank)
/ref> and captured the 2006 US Open doubles title along with Mihaela Buzărnescu
Mihaela Buzărnescu (born 4 May 1988) is a Romanian professional tennis player.
She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 20, achieved on 6 August 2018. Her best doubles ranking of world No. 24, she reached on 22 October 2018. She has ...
. Her best professional Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
result so far has been the third round of the 2007 French Open
The 2007 French Open (Roland Garros) was held in Paris, France from 27 May through to 10 June 2007. Rafael Nadal became the first man to win the tournament 3 times consecutively since Björn Borg, 1978–81; and maintained his unbeaten run at Rol ...
, when she defeated the 30th seed Julia Vakulenko
Julia Olehivna Vakulenko ( uk, Юлія Оле́гівна Вакуленко; born July 10, 1983) is a Ukraine-born female tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of No. 32 in November 2007.
In April, 2008, Vakulenko renounced her U ...
, in straight sets, and lost to eventual runner–up, the seventh seed Ana Ivanovic
Ana Schweinsteiger ( sr, Ана Швајнштајгер / ''Ana Švajnštajger''; born 6 November 1987), professionally known by her birth name Ana Ivanovic (Ана Ивановић / ''Ana Ivanović'', ), is a Serbian former world No. 1 tenn ...
.[Sony Ericsson WTA Tour , Players , Activity , Ioana Raluca Olaru](_blank)
/ref> Olaru reached her highest singles ranking, world No. 53, on 27 July 2009, and her best doubles ranking, No. 30, on 31 January 2022.
Personal life
Ioana Raluca Olaru currently resides in her hometown Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
.[Ioana Raluca Olaru](_blank)
at the International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there a ...
Her parents, Adrian and Doina, run a convenience store together.WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tourna ...
Getting to Know... Ioana Raluca Olaru
(24 July 2009) Her sister Cristina is 16 years older than Olaru, and lives in London. Olaru began playing tennis aged seven, and cites Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters reached the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won six major titles, ...
,[WTA Tour , Players , Info (Biography) , Ioana Raluca Olaru](_blank)
/ref> Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...
and Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
as her role models. She graduated from school in 2007, and is fluent in English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
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Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
.
Tennis career
Raluca started her 2017 season at Shenzhen Open where she reached the final with Olga Savchuk
Olga Mykolayivna Savchuk ( uk, Ольга Миколаївна Савчук; born 20 September 1987) is a retired tennis player from Ukraine. Savchuk grew up in the city of Makiyivka in Donetsk province. She resides in Nassau, Bahamas.
Her best ...
, but they lost 1–6, 5–7 to Peng Shuai
Peng Shuai (; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese retired professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked world No. 1 doubles player by the WTA, becoming the first Chinese tennis player to achieve that ranking (in either single ...
and Andrea Hlaváčková
Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew.
Origin of the name
The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...
.
Next week, Olaru with Olga Savchuk won the doubles title at the Hobart International
The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and is classed as an Interna ...
, it was her sixth WTA Tour doubles title.
Playing style
Olaru considers being a fighter as her biggest asset. She cites clay as her favourite surface and backhand down the line as favourite shot, but she can play well on all surfaces and she likes mixing her game with drop shots. Olaru is currently coached by Adrian Gavrila, Adrian Cruciat and Artemon Apostu Efremov.
Performance timelines
''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''
Singles
Doubles
Mixed doubles
Significant finals
Premier-Mandatory/Premier-5 finals
Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)
WTA career finals
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Doubles: 24 (11 titles, 13 runner-ups)
WTA 125K series finals
Doubles: 1 (runner-up)
ITF finals
Singles: 18 (11 titles, 7 runner–ups)
Doubles: 31 (15 titles, 16 runner–ups)
Notes
References
External links
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*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Olaru, Raluca
1989 births
Living people
Tennis players from Bucharest
Romanian female tennis players
US Open (tennis) junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players of Romania
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics