Monica Niculescu

Country	Romania
Residence	Bucharest, Romania
Date of birth	September 25, 1987 (1987-09-25) (age 22)
Place of birth	Slatina, Romania
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	63 kg (140 lb)
Turned pro	2005
Plays	Right (two-handed both sides)
Career prize money	$652,900
Singles
Career record	222—119
Career titles	0 WTA, 15 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 47 (November 10, 2008)
Current ranking	No. 91 (November 2, 2009)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	2r (2009)
French Open	1r (2008, 2009)
Wimbledon	2r (2008)
US Open	1r (2008)
Doubles
Career record	192—88
Career titles	1 WTA, 20 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 27 (August 17, 2009)
Last updated on: September 28, 2009.

Monica Niculescu (born 25 September 1987) is a Romanian tennis player. As of November 2, 2009 she is ranked No. 91 at the WTA Tour Singles Ranking.^[1] Her highest WTA rankings is No. 47 in singles, reached on 10 November 2008, and No. 27 in doubles, reached on 17 August 2008.^[1]

Niculescu was born in Slatina, Romania, but moved to Bucharest when she was four.^[2] She is currently coached by Calin Stelian Ciorbagiu.^[2]

Contents 1 Career 1.1 2009 2 Personal life 3 WTA titles 3.1 Singles (0) 3.2 Doubles (1) 4 WTA runner-ups 4.1 Singles (0) 4.2 Doubles (1) 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] 2009

Niculescu opened the season at the Brisbane International, where she lost to Tsvetana Pironkova in the first round, in three sets.^[2] She also lost in the first round of Moorilla Hobart International to Alyona Bondarenko. At the 2009 Australian Open, Niculescu beat Katie O'Brien in the first round (6—4, 6—4), before losing to Sara Errani in the second (6—2, 6—3). Alongside Sorana Cîrstea Niculescu was the fourteenth seed in women's doubles; they lost to Nathalie Dechy and Mara Santangelo in the second round, 6—3, 6—3.

At the Open GDF Suez held in Paris, Niculescu defeated Timea Bacsinszky in the first round before losing to eventual champion Amélie Mauresmo in the second. She then took part in Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai. She beat Shuai Peng in the first round in three sets (3—6, 7—5, 6—2), and then lost to World No. 3 Jelena Janković in the second, 6—3, 6—2. Niculescu also partnered Elena Vesnina and the two reached the quarterfinals in women's doubles; they lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues and Francesca Schiavone. Niculescu had two consecutive first-round losses, at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California (fell to Anna-Lena Grönefeld) and Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida (fell to Tamira Paszek). Partnering Alisa Kleybanova she reached the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open, where they lost to Maria Kirilenko and Flavia Pennetta. At the Sony Ericsson Open she partnered Kleybanova again, but they lost to second seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual.

Niculescu withdrew from Andalucía Tennis Experience and Barcelona Ladies Open due to forearm injury.^[2]

[edit] Personal life

Monica Niculescu was born in Slatina, but moved to Bucharest when she was four.^[2] Her mother, Cristiana Silvia Niculescu is a pharmaceutical sales rep; her father Mihai Niculescu is an engineer.^[2] Niculescu has an older sister, Gabriela, who was a professional tennis player and currently attends University of Idaho.^[2]

Monica Niculescu cited Martina Hingis and Andre Agassi her tennis idols.^[2] She enjoys shopping, movies, reading and spending time with her family.^[2] Niculescu listed her favourite movie Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher.^[2]

[edit] WTA titles

[edit] Singles (0)

[edit] Doubles (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	12 July 2009	Budapest, Hungary	Clay	Alisa Kleybanova	Alona Bondarenko Kateryna Bondarenko	6-4, 7-6(5)

[edit] WTA runner-ups

[edit] Singles (0)

[edit] Doubles (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	17 August 2008	New Haven, the U.S.	Hard	Sorana Cîrstea	Květa Peschke Lisa Raymond	6-4, 5-7, [7-10]
2.	2 August 2009	Stanford, California, the U.S.	Hard	Chan Yung-jan	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6-4, 6-1

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Monica Niculescu profile on the WTA Tour's official website
• Monica Niculescu Blog

v • d • e Women's Tennis Association: Top ten Romanian female singles tennis players as of December 28, 2009 1. Sorana Cîrstea (45 ▬)  2. Alexandra Dulgheru (52 ▬)  3. Ioana Raluca Olaru (72 ▬)  4. Monica Niculescu (103 ▬)  5. Edina Gallovits (104 ▬) 6. Simona Halep (185 ▬)  7. Irina Begu (234 ▬)  8. Agnes Szatmari (255 ▬)  9. Elora Dabija (380 ▬)  10. Laura Ioana Andrei (387 ▬)