Monica Niculescu

Monica Niculescu (born 25 September 1987) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as high as 28 in singles and 11 in doubles. Niculescu has won several titles: three singles and ten doubles titles on the WTA Tour, one singles and one doubles title at WTA 125 tournaments.

She has ranked within the top 30 for several years in singles. Niculescu entered the Grand Slam doubles final at Wimbledon 2017 tournament, together with Chan Hao-ching. She reached the quarterfinals in doubles in all Grand Slam championships. In WTA 1000 tournaments, she got into three finals (doubles), six semifinals (5 in doubles), and 12 quarterfinals (11 in doubles). In singles, her best Grand Slam performance is reaching round four, which she did at the 2011 US Open and 2015 Wimbledon Championships.

Early life

Niculescu was born in Slatina but moved to Bucharest when she was four. Her mother, Cristiana Silvia, is a pharmaceutical sales representative, while her father Mihai Niculescu is an engineer. She has an older sister, Gabriela, who was also a professional tennis player.

Junior career

Before reaching the age of 18, Niculescu had won 11 singles finals in the ITF Junior Circuit, losing only one set:
* Bucharest (Aug 2002), 6–1, 7–6 against Tsvetana Pironkova
* Cavtat (Apr 2003) 6–4, 6–1 against Darija Jurak
* Timişoara (Aug 2003) 6–2, 6–3 against Veronika Rizhik
* Albufeira (Feb 2004) 6–1, 3–6, 6–0 against Irina Kotkina
* Portimão (Feb 2004) 6–4, 7–6 against Nadja Pavić
* Bucharest (May 2004) 6–2, 6–2 against Simona Matei
* Iași (Aug 2004) 7–6, 6–0 against Raluca Olaru
* Cairo (Mar 2005) 6–4, 6–2 against Galina Fokina
* Ain Alsoukhna (Mar 2005) 6–3, 6–4 against Magdaléna Rybáriková
* Antalya (May 2005) 6–2, 6–2 against Ekaterina Dzehalevich
* Coimbra (Aug 2005) 6–3, 6–1 against Aravane Rezaï.
She also won eight out of fourteen doubles events, most of them paired with her sister, Gabriela Niculescu. She reached the finals in girls' doubles at the French Open in 2004, paired with Mădălina Gojnea, and twice in Wimbledon in 2004 and 2005, paired with Marina Erakovic.

Professional career

2007–08: First WTA doubles final, top 50 in the world

Niculescu had her first WTA Tour debuting attempt in May 2006 at the Istanbul Cup but lost in qualifying. In February of the following year, she made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the Dubai Tennis Championships. In June 2007, she played her first doubles event at the Barcelona Open