Mihaela Buzărnescu (born 4 May 1988) is a Romanian
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
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 won one singles title and two doubles titles on the
WTA Tour.
Buzărnescu has a
PhD in sports science from the
National University of Physical Education and Sport.
Professional career
2004: Turned Pro, Junior success
Buzărnescu played her first professional match in 2004. She then won the junior doubles title at the
2006 US Open with
Raluca Olaru. Seeded No. 2, they defeated the top-seeded pair of
Sharon Fichman and
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (; born 3 July 1991) is a Russian professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 11 on 8 November 2021. Pavlyuchenkova has won twelve singles titles ...
in the final.
2016: Injuries and hiatus
Shoulder and knee injuries (the latter prompting two surgeries) forced her off the pro tour for years, long enough that she went back to school, graduating with a doctorate at the
National University of Physical Education and Sport in December 2016.
2017: Major and top 100 debuts
In 2017, she qualified to make her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the
2017 US Open (tennis).
In October 2017, Buzărnescu got to the semifinals of the
Linz Open. As a result, she reached the top 100 as world No. 89 on 16 October 2017.
2018: First Tour titles, top 20 in singles
She reached the finals of the
Hobart International and the
Prague Open.
At the
Internationaux de Strasbourg, she surrendered a lead in the singles semifinals against
Dominika Cibulková
Dominika Cibulková (; born 6 May 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She is the 2016 WTA Finals champion, becoming the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001 WTA Tour Championships, 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 WTA Tour ...
, eventually losing the match in three sets. She showed more consistency in the doubles, winning the tournament and her first WTA title with compatriot
Raluca Olaru in straight sets against
Nadiia Kichenok
Nadiia Viktorivna Kichenok (, born 20 July 1992) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. On 31 January 2022, she reached a career-high of No. 29 in the WTA doubles rankings. Kichenok has won nine doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including fo ...
and
Anastasia Rodionova.
In May, Buzărnescu then played in her first
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, which was also the first Grand Slam tournament, she was seeded. She defeated
Vania King in the first round for her first major win. Afterwards, she also won versus
Rebecca Peterson. Against No. 4 seed
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina (, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and No. 108 in doubles by the WTA rankings, WTA. Svitolina has won 18 WTA Tour single ...
in the third round, Buzărnescu won the match in straight sets. This was her biggest career victory and one of the tournament's bigger upsets. She faced No. 13 seed
Madison Keys in the fourth round, and lost in two sets.
In the grass-court season, Buzărnescu reached the quarterfinals of the
Nature Valley Open in Nottingham, losing to
Naomi Osaka. She also played in the doubles tournament with British partner
Heather Watson, losing in the final.
At the
2018 Birmingham Classic, she once again defeated second seed Svitolina, before losing to eventual champion
Petra Kvitová
Petra Kvitová (; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 31 career singles titles, including two Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles ...
in the semifinals.
Buzărnescu then played for a third consecutive week in
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...
. She reached the last 16 before losing to
Jeļena Ostapenko. However, she reached the doubles final with partner
Irina-Camelia Begu
Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA ranking, WTA singles ranking of world No. 22 , in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest ranking in doubles, also No. 22. She is ...
.
In August, Buzărnescu captured her first WTA Tour singles title winning in
San Jose with a straight-sets victory over
Maria Sakkari in the final.
Later in August, she played Elina Svitolina once more in the second round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal but suffered a serious ankle injury and was forced to retire. This injury kept her out of the game for two months including the US Open but she did reach her best ever ranking of No. 20 in the world, on 6 August 2018. Buzārnescu ended the year ranked 24.
2019-2020
Buzărnescu began her 2019 season at the
Brisbane International. She lost in the first round to eventual finalist
Lesia Tsurenko. Seeded second and last year finalist at the
Hobart International, she was defeated in the first round by
Belinda Bencic. Seeded 25th at the
Australian Open, she lost her first-round match to seven-time Grand Slam winner, two-time finalist, and former world No. 1,
Venus Williams.
In February, Buzărnescu represented Romania in the
Fed Cup tie against the Czech Republic. She lost both of her rubbers to
Karolína Plíšková and
Kateřina Siniaková. In the end, Romania still managed to win the tie over the Czech Republic 3–2. At the
Qatar Ladies Open, she was defeated in the first round by 2016 finalist
Jeļena Ostapenko. In
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
, she lost in the first round to
Sofia Kenin. Seeded fourth at the
Abierto Mexicano in Acapulco, she won her first match of the season by beating
Daria Gavrilova in the first round. She was defeated in the second round by
Bianca Andreescu. Seeded 29th at the
Indian Wells Open, she suffered a second-round loss at the hands of Daria Gavrilova. Seeded 30th in
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, she lost in the second round to
Alizé Cornet.
Buzărnescu started her clay-court season at the
Charleston Open. Seeded 12th, she reached the third round where she lost to fifth seed, 2011 champion, and eventual finalist,
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is an inactive Danish professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, hold ...
.
2021-2022
Partnering
Fanny Stollár, Buzărnescu won the doubles title at the
2021 Budapest Grand Prix, defeating
Aliona Bolsova and
Tamara Korpatsch in the final.
At the
2022 French Open
The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. J ...
, she entered the main draw as lucky loser but lost in the first round to
Madison Brengle. Playing at the
2022 Wimbledon Championships, she entered the main draw by replacing
Leylah Fernandez, and defeated qualifier
Nastasja Schunk, in the first round, before losing to 11th seed
Coco Gauff.
Buzărnescu recorded wins over
Elisabetta Cocciaretto and
Yuan Yue to reach the quarterfinals at the
2022 Swedish Open where she lost to
Viktoriya Tomova. At the
2022 Iași Open, she retired due to injury while leading by a set and a break against
Cristina Dinu in the first round.
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
''Current through the
2022 Prague Open
The 2022 Prague Open (branded as the 2022 Livesport Prague Open for sponsorship reasons) was a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the TK Sparta Prague. It was the 13th (WTA Tour, WTA and non-WTA) edition of ...
.''
Doubles
Mixed doubles
WTA Tour finals
Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)
Doubles: 6 (2 titles, 4 runner-ups)
WTA Challenger finals
Doubles: 1 (runner-up)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 31 (23 titles, 8 runner–ups)
Doubles: 56 (34 titles, 22 runner–ups)
Head-to-head records
Record against top 10 players
''Buzărnescu's record against players who have been ranked in the top 10. Active players are in boldface.''
Top 10 wins
Junior Grand Slam tournament finals
Doubles: 1 (title)
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buzarnescu, Mihaela
1988 births
Living people
Tennis players from Bucharest
Romanian female tennis players
US Open (tennis) junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles
Olympic tennis players for Romania
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
21st-century Romanian sportswomen