Monica Niculescu

Niculescu at the 2008 French Open.

Niculescu had her first WTA Tour debuting attempt in May 2006 at the Istanbul Cup but lost in the 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. There she also recorded her first win in doubles at the WTA Tour. A month later, she managed to get to her first WTA semifinal. That was at the Gastein Ladies in doubles event. During the year she also attempted to made her Grand Slam debut but lost in the qualifying of all four of them. She finished the year 2007 in top 200.

Niculescu continued with making progress during the season of 2008. At the Australian Open, she played her first Grand Slam main-draw, where she get as a qualifier. A month later, at the Qatar Open, she made her Tier I debut ans also recorded her first win on the WTA Tour in singles event. She continued with making debuts at the tournaments such as Grand Slams French Open, Wimbledon and Us Open, Tier Is Italian Open and Canadian Open. Thing got similar with doubles event. However, there she managed to get to her first WTA final at the Connecticut Open alongside her compatriot Sorana Cirstea but they failed to with the trophy. Due to all success she managed during the season, Niculescu finished year inside top 50 in both singles and doubles. In singles, she was ranked world No. 48, and second in Romania, at the end of 2008.

Niculescu at the 2009 US Open.

Despite progress in the previous seasons, opening of the season was not promising for Niculescu. In May 2009, she reached her first singles quarterfinal at the Internationaux de Strasbourg. To get there, she needed to win two hard matches, both played in the three-sets. In the quarterfinal match, she lost to Aravane Rezai. Her next quarterfinal appaearance was four month laster, at the Tashkent Open. She advanced to the quarterfinal after beating two non top 100 players before losing to top 60 Yaroslava Shvedova. Due to weak performances, Niculescu fall outside the top 100 at the end of the year, getting to the place of 103.

Niculescu more shinged in the doubles. In February, she reached semifinal of the Premier Open GDF Suez but then withdraw alongside Cirstea. The following two tournaments past as a successful as well. First, she reached two back-to-back Premier 5/Mandatory quarterfinals at the Dubai tennis Championships and then Indian Wells Open. Her journey continued with two consecutive Grand Slam third-rounds - French Open and Wimbledon. Next step was also her first WTA Tour doubles title, the Budapest Grand Prix. She won title alongside Alisa Kleybanova. Three weeks later, she advanced to the another final at the Bank of the West Classic but failed to win the trophy. Soon after, she reached her first Premier 5/Premier Mandatory semifinal at the Cincinnati Open alongside Akgul Amanmuradova. By the end of the year, she reached third round of the US Open and semifinals of the International Tashkent Open and Premier Kremlin Cup. Thanks to great performances, she finished as a world No. 30 at the end of 2009.

Niculescu at the 2010 US Open

In 2010, Monica started the season in Auckland, coming from qualifying. In the first round, she lost to fifth seed Virginie Razzano, in straight sets. In doubles, she partnered Ioana Raluca Olaru, and they defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues and Carla Suárez Navarro. In the second round, they lost to Cara Black and Liezel Huber, also in two sets.

At the Australian Open, she lost in the first round to Jelena Janković, 4–6, 0–6. In doubles, she partnered Chan Yung-jan and they easily defeated Monique Adamczak and Nicole Kriz. The pair defeated Alla Kudryavtseva and Ekaterina Makarova in the second round, 6–4, 6–4. In the third round, they lost to sixth seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs, 5–7, 3–6.

Niculescu then played an ITF tournament in Midland, but lost in the first round to Eleni Daniilidou in straight sets.

In Memphis, she lost in the first round qualifying to Valérie Tétreault. In doubles, she reached the semifinals along with Riza Zalameda, losing to Vania King and Michaëlla Krajicek, 1–6, 4–6.

At Indian Wells, she lost in qualifying to Tamarine Tanasugarn. In doubles, together with Michaëlla Krajicek, she lost in first round to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Yan Zi, 6–7, 2–6.

In Marbella failed to qualify in singles, but in doubles she partnered Sophie Lefèvre. They defeated Kristina Barrois and Ioana Raluca Olaru in the first round, 6–3, 4–6, [10–7]. However, in the second round, they lost in straight sets to Virginia Ruano Pascual and Meghann Shaughnessy.

She made again her best in Tashkent, where she reached her first WTA semifinals but lost to Elena Vesnina.

Although in the first half of the year she was struggling between ranks 100 and 150, by the middle of the year she reached top 100 again and ended the year as No. 82 in the world, and No. 2 in Romania.

Niculescu at the 2011 Fed Cup

At the Australian Open, Niculescu defeated Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets, 6–0, 6–3. Facing off against the 32nd seed, Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, Niculescu cruised through the match winning 6–4, 6–1. In the third round, she lost to the 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, 0–6, 6–7.

Niculescu defeated Patricia Mayr-Achleitner in the first round and compatriot Alexandra Dulgheru in the second round, 6–3, 6–0, to advance to the third round of the US Open. In defeating Lucie Šafářová, 6–0, 6–1, Niculescu advanced to the fourth round of a Grand Slam singles competition for the first time in her career, where she lost to unseeded Angelique Kerber in straight sets.

At the Tier-I China Open, she shocked the world with a dominating victory over fourth seed Li Na, 6–4, 6–0 in the first round, and advanced to the semifinals, where she lost to eventual runner-up, Andrea Petkovic.

She advanced to her first final of a WTA International tournament in Luxembourg, losing to Victoria Azarenka, 2–6, 2–6. En route to the final, she spent many hours on court with a 6–7, 7–5, 7–6 first-round victory over Karin Knapp, a second-round 7–6, 3–6, 6–1 win over Anabel Medina Garrigues, and a 7–5, 4–6, 6–3 win in three hours over 2010 finalist Anne Keothavong in the semifinals.

The end of the year found her as No. 30 in the world and No. 1 in Romania.

At the Australian Open, Niculescu made it to the third round by defeating Alizé Cornet and Pauline Parmentier, but she was defeated by then–world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, 6–2, 6–2.

She reached quarterfinals in Doha, where she lost to Samantha Stosur.

Her best result was again the final in Luxembourg, lost to Venus Williams.

Although in February Niculescu had reached rank No. 28, her career high so far, the inconsistent results during the season made her go down to world No. 58 by the end of the year.

Aside two WTA Tour semifinals in Shenzhen and Monterrey, Niculescu won her first singles WTA title in Florianópolis.

She played in round one of all the Grand Slam events, but lost the games constantly.

Yet, winning enough games and points in WTA Tour tournaments, she kept her top-60 position, finishing the season as No. 59 in the WTA rankings.

In all, Niculescu had an improving season, reaching round three at Australian Open, round two at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, quarterfinals in Shenzhen, Hobart and Florianópolis, and semifinals in Bucharest. The best result was her winning the tournament in Guangzhou, as her second WTA title.

Thus, she entered top 50 again by the end of the year.

Niculescu at the 2015 French Open.

Much of early 2015 was particularly difficult for Niculescu, as she often faced difficult draws. For instance, she drew world No. 1, Serena Williams, twice in a row in the second round of Indian Wells and Miami. While she managed to test Williams with a 5–7, 5–7 score, she was not able to win a set against her in either match. She also suffered first-round losses at Shenzhen, Hobart, Melbourne, Dubai, Prague, and Roland Garros.[1]

Niculescu won the Marseille clay $100k tournament in June. Shortly thereafter, she defeated top-seeded Agnieszka Radwańska 5–7, 6–4, 6–0 at the Nottingham grass tournament to earn a place in the final where she lost to teenager Ana Konjuh, 6–1, 4–6, 2–6. All five matches she played went to three sets. She then lost in the first round at Birmingham to the tenth seed, Barbora Strýcová.[1]

Niculescu earned a spot in the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time, defeating Monica Puig, Jana Čepelová, and Kristýna Plíšková. This is the second time she has made it past the third round at a major. Despite winning the first set of her fourth-round match 6–1 and having a positive head-to-head record against the player, she was defeated by 15th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky, who took the next two sets.[2]

Niculescu reached a career-high ranking of 16 in doubles in July. She partnered with Sania Mirza to win in New Haven.[3]

At the Hobart International, she made it to the final and lost to Elise Mertens, in straight sets.[4] In April, she won doubles event at the Ladies Open Bien-Bielle alongside Hsieh Su-wei. At Wimbledon, alongside Hao Chin Chang, she finished as a runner-up after losing to Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.[5] In August, she advanced to the quarterfinal of the Citi Open in Washington but then lost to Julia Gorges.[6] At the Cincinnati Open, she reached semifinal in doubles event alongisde Hsieh. They lost to Martina Hingis-Latisha Chan. At the US Open, she reached third round where she lost to Jennifer Brady.[7] She won the WTA 125 event at Limoges, on 12 November.[8]

Her season started with playing at the Hobart International. She get to the quarterfinal after two wins but then was forced to withdraw.[9] Despite losing in the first round of singles event at the Australian Open, she managed to reach semifinal in doubles event partnering with her compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu. Next, she advanced to another quarterfinal of the year at the Taiwan Open. In the quarterfinal match she lost to Sabine Lisicki after three sets. She then had great performance at the WTA 1000 Qatar Open. She beat Maria Sharapova in the first round,[10] followed up then with win over Magdalena Rybarikova. In the following round she lost to Caroline Wozniacki. A month later, she reached another WTA 1000 third round, this time at the Miami Open. In order to get to the third round, she needed to defeat Yulia Putintseva and get another win over Rybarikova. In the third round she was forced to retired during the third set against Sloane Stephens.[11] Her results then start to weaken. Some of her results include first round of Wimbledon, Canadian Open, US Open and Wuhan Open.

Niculescu at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.

Niculescu started year with quarterfinal of the Shenzhen Open but then lost to Wang Yafan.[12] Next week, she reached semifinal of the Hobart International in doubles event. At the Australian Open she lost in the first round in singles but get to the third round in doubles. At the Thailand Open she won title in doubles alongside Irina-Camelia Begu. At the Miami Open, she get to the third round after beating Garbine Muguruza.[13] She then lost to Caroline Wozniacki.[14] In doubles, she reached quarterfinal with Abigail Spears. They lost in the quarterfinal-match against Samantha Stosur/Zhang Shuai after three sets.[15] She started well the grass season with semifinal of the Nottingham Open in doubles event. The following week, she won the $100K Ilkley grass tournament after defeating Timea Babos in the final in singles event.[16] Her next tournament was Wimbledon, where she defeated former top 10 player Andrea Petkovic.[17] In doubles, she advanced to the third round. A month later, she lost in the final of the Bronx Open alongside Margarita Gasparyan in doubles event.

At the Australian Open, Niculescu made it into the main-draw after passing qualifying. In the first round she faced Alize Cornet. After winning first set, she only won one game in the second set and then get bangeled in the third. At the Prague Open, Niculescu finished as runner-up alongside Raluca Olaru after losing to Lucie Hradecka/Krystina Pliskova.[18] At the US Open, she lost to Danielle Collins in the first round where she get after passing qualifying.

At the Qatar Open, in doubles event alongside Jelena Ostapenko, she finished as runner-up after losing to Nicole Melichar-Demi Schuurs in the final.[19] Soon later, she reached semifinal of the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy alongside Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove.[20] At the French Open, she advanced to the fourth round alongside Ostapenko, where Pliskova's sisters defeat them.[21] Her doubles journey continued with the ITF title at the $100K Nottingham tournament. Alongside Elena-Gabriela Ruse, she defeated australian combination Priscilla Hon/Storm Sanders.[22] Her next step was Wimbledon, where she in singles event lost in the first round to seed No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.[23] She went one round further in doubles alongside her compatriot Andreea Mitu. At the Tokyo Olympics, Nisculescu played for her country Romania only in doubles event. Playing alongside Raluca Olaru, she get to the second round after beating former No. 5 Hao-ching Chan and former No. 1 Chan Latisha.[24] Niculescu continued with good results in doubles, getting to the quarterfinal of the US Open alongside Ruse.[25] It is her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since 2018 Australian Open and first one at the US Open. In October, Niculescu won the inaugural Astana Open alongside Anna-Lena Friedsam. This is her 10th career WTA doubles title and first since February 2019.[26]

Current through the 2021 US Open.

• Niculescu's win-loss record against certain players who have been ranked world No. 10 or higher is as follows. Active players are in boldface:

Player	Record	Win %	Hard	Clay	Grass	Last Match
No. 1 ranked players
Maria Sharapova	1–0	100%	1–0	–	–	Won (4–6, 6–4, 6–3) at Doha 2018
Karolína Plíšková	2–1	67%	2–1	–	–	Loss (4–6, 6–4, 3–6) at 2016 Fed Cup
Jelena Janković	2–5	29%	2–4	0–1	–	Win (3–6, 6–4, 7–5) at 2016 Doha
Angelique Kerber	1–3	25%	1–3	–	–	Loss (6–0, 1–6, 2–6) at 2013 Linz
Kim Clijsters	0–1	0%	–	–	0–1	Loss (5–7, 5–7) at 2011 's-Hertogenbosch
Amélie Mauresmo	0–1	0%	0–1	–	–	Loss (1–6, 2–6) at 2009 Paris
Venus Williams	0–1	0%	0–1	–	–	Loss (2–6, 3–6) at 2012 Luxembourg
Ana Ivanovic	0–2	0%	0–1	0–1	–	Loss (5–7, 3–6) at 2012 Linz
Serena Williams	0–2	0%	0–2	–	–	Loss (4–6, 1–6) at 2015 Miami
Simona Halep	0–2	0%	–	0–2	–	Loss (2–6, 6–4, 1–6) at 2014 Bucharest
Victoria Azarenka	0–5	0%	0–4	0–1	–	Loss (1–6, 4–6) at 2013 Australian Open
Caroline Wozniacki	0–6	0%	0–6	–	–	Loss (3–6, 1–6) at 2013 Luxembourg
No. 2 ranked players
Na Li	1–1	50%	1–1	–	–	Loss (5–7, 6–4, 4–6 ) at 2012 Shenzhen
Vera Zvonareva	1–1	50%	1–1	–	–	Win (7–5, 3–2 ret.) at 2012 Doha
Petra Kvitová	1–2	33%	1–0	0–1	0–1	Loss (6–2, 6–7(5–7), 2–6) at 2016 Stuttgart
Agnieszka Radwańska	1–4	20%	0–4	–	1–0	Loss (1–6, 5–7) at 2016 Montréal
No. 4 ranked players
Kimiko Date-Krumm	1–1	50%	1–1	–	–	Win (6–2, 2–1 ret.) at 2013 Monterrey
Francesca Schiavone	0–4	0%	0–3	0–1	–	Loss (3–6, 5–7) at 2012 Stuttgart
Samantha Stosur	0–7	0%	0–7	–	–	Loss (3–6, 2–6) at 2015 Beijing
No. 5 ranked players
Daniela Hantuchová	1–0	100%	1–0	–	–	Win (6–1, 6–3) at 2012 Luxembourg
Lucie Šafářová	2–0	100%	2–0	–	–	Win (6–2, 6–0) at 2012 Beijing
Anna Chakvetadze	1–1	50%	1–1	–	–	Loss (0–6, 4–6) at 2012 Hobart
Sara Errani	1–4	20%	1–2	0–2	–	Loss (7–5, 1–6, 2–6) at 2015 Bucharest
No. 6 ranked players
Flavia Pennetta	0–3	0%	0–2	–	0–1	Loss (1–6, 4–6) at 2015 US Open
Carla Suárez Navarro	0–5	0%	0–4	0–1	–	Loss (7–5, 3–6, 4–6) at 2015 Wuhan
No. 7 ranked players
Madison Keys	1–0	100%	1–0	–	–	Win (6–1, 2–6, 7–6(8–6)) at 2013 Washington
Marion Bartoli	0–1	0%	0–1	–	–	Loss (6–2, 3–6, 2–6) at 2011 Indian Wells
Patty Schnyder	0–1	0%	0–1	–	–	Loss (1–6, 5–7) at 2008 Montréal
Roberta Vinci	0–1	0%	–	–	0–1	Loss (3–6, 7–6(7–4), 0–6) at 2012 's-Hertogenbosch
No. 8 ranked players
Ekaterina Makarova	1–4	20%	0–3	1–1	–	Loss (7–5, 6–7(3–7), 3–6) at 2014 Indian Wells
Alicia Molik	0–1	0%	–	0–1	–	Loss (6–4, 6–7(5–7), 0–6) at 2010 Barcelona
No. 9 ranked players
Timea Bacsinszky	4–3	57%	2–0	2–1	0–2	Loss (6–4, 2–6, 1–6) at 2016 Wimbledon
Andrea Petkovic	2–3	40%	0–2	2–1	–	Loss (6–0, 6–7(1–7), 3–6) at 2016 Fed Cup
No. 10 ranked players
Maria Kirilenko	2–2	50%	2–2	–	–	Loss (3–6, 0–6) at 2012 Dubai
Dominika Cibulková	0–1	0%	0–1	–	–	Loss (4–6, 3–6) at 2008 Los Angeles
Total	25–79	24%	19–59 (24%)	5–14 (26%)	1–6 (14%)