Monica Niculescu
Result W-L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0-1 Oct 2011 Luxembourg Open , Luxembourg International Hard ( i ) Victoria Azarenka 2-6 , 2-6
Loss 0-2 Oct 2012 Luxembourg Open , Luxembourg International Hard ( i ) Venus Williams 2-6 , 3-6
Win 1-2 Mar 2013 Brasil Tennis Cup , Brasil International Hard Olga Puchkova 6-2 , 4-6 , 6-4
Win 2-2 Sep 2014 Guangzhou Open , China International Hard Alizé Cornet 6-4 , 6-0
Loss 2-3 Jun 2015 Nottingham Open , United Kingdom International Grass Ana Konjuh 6-1 , 4-6 , 2-6
Loss 2-4 Sep 2016 Korea Open , South Korea International Hard Lara Arruabarrena 0-6 , 6-2 , 0-6
Win 3-4 Oct 2016 Luxembourg Open , Luxembourg International Hard ( i ) Petra Kvitová 6-4 , 6-0
Loss 3-5 Jan 2017 Hobart International , Australia International Hard Elise Mertens 3-6 , 1-6
WTA career finals -- Singles : 8 ( 3 titles , 5 runner-ups )
Legend Grand Slam tournaments ( 0–0 ) Tour Championships ( 0–0 ) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 ( 0–0 ) Premier ( 0–0 ) International ( 3–5 )
Monica Niculescu (born 25 September 1987) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 28 in February 2012, and has three singles titles to her credit on the WTA Tour since she turned pro in May 2002, the last one coming at the end of 2016, at the BGL Luxembourg Open. Although she was a steady top 30 player for several years and enjoyed relative success in singles, she is also a doubles specialist, where she achieved a career-high ranking of No. 11 in April 2018, after partnering with Grand Slam winner and Olympic medalist Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková at Indian Wells. Her biggest doubles result up to date is reaching her first Grand Slam doubles final at Wimbledon in 2017, alongside Chan Hao-ching. She was also runner-up at three Premier Mandatory events: the 2015 Wuhan Open, with fellow Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, the 2016 Rogers Cup, with former world No. 1 Simona Halep, and the 2017 Cincinnati Open, partnering former world No. 1 in doubles, Hsieh Su-wei. She is popular among spectators and other players alike for her unconventional style of play, employing an extreme grip as well as two hands for both her forehand and backhand. She is also best known for her trademark forehand-slice, her winning deamenour and her exceptional shot-making abilities at the net. Niculescu currently holds the Open Era record of highest first serve percentage in a year (91%-in 2011, tied with Sara Errani).