Alexandra Dulgheru

Alexandra Dulgheru

Country	Romania
Residence	Bucharest, Romania
Born	(1989-05-30) May 30, 1989 (age 22) Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Weight	61 kilograms (130 lb)
Turned pro	May 5, 2005
Retired	Active
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$1,090,381
Singles
Career record	192–120
Career titles	2 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 26 (April 11, 2011)
Current ranking	No. 114 (May 28, 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	1R (2010, 2011)
French Open	3R (2010)
Wimbledon	3R (2010)
US Open	3R (2010)
Doubles
Career record	74–61
Career titles	3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 47 (March 21, 2011)
Current ranking	No. 51 (September 12, 2011)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2011)
French Open	2R (2010)
Wimbledon	1R (2010)
US Open	3R (2010)
Mixed Doubles
Career record	2–2
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2011)
Wimbledon	2R (2010, 2011)
Last updated on: September 12, 2011.

Alexandra Dulgheru (born May 30, 1989)^[1] is a Romanian professional tennis player. She achieved a singles career high of World No. 26 on April 11, 2011. Her career high in doubles was World No. 47 on March 21, 2011.^[1] She is coached by Gabriel Urpi.^[2]

Biography

Her father, Dumitru, is a pilot, and her mother Doina is an airline coordinator. Her sister, Bianca, is an assistant hotel manager.

Alexandra has a German Shepherd Dog called Ciavi. She likes reading, movies, music, dancing, painting, and drawing. She would like to be a designer or architect after tennis.

Her favorite actor is Johnny Depp, and her favorite movie is Meet Joe Black. She likes listening to pop music, and her favourite artists are Céline Dion and Backstreet Boys. Her favorite book is Harry Potter.

Alexandra's favorite food is Chinese, but she also likes Romanian cuisine. She likes to drink lemonade and hot chocolate.

She speaks Romanian, English, and Spanish, and she is currently studying economics at Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies.

Her favourite shot is a high backhand (Ríos style), she admires Justine Henin and Roger Federer, and her favorite tournament is the Warsaw Open.^[3]

Career

She started playing tennis at the age of 4.^[1] Her best junior result came at the 2006 Wimbledon Girls' Singles Championship, where she was defeated in the quarter finals by Tamira Paszek 4–6, 4–6. She also made the doubles final with Kristina Antoniychuk. They lost to the pairing of Alisa Kleybanova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 1–6, 2–6.^[4] In April 2009, she finished runner-up to Kimiko Date-Krumm in a $75,000 tournament in Monzon.^[5] Just over a fortnight later, she won a $25,000 tournament in Bari, where she defeated Sandra Záhlavová in the final.

2009

Alexandra Dulgheru at the 2009 US Open

She made her WTA debut as a qualifier in the 2009 Warsaw Open. She defeated fellow Romanian qualifier Agnes Szatmari 6–3, 6–4 in the first round. She followed that up with a 6–4, 6–3 win over 44th-ranked Sara Errani to advance to the quarterfinals. She made to the semi final after she beat 95th-ranked Galina Voskoboeva 6–1, 7–5. In the semifinal, she defeated world #36 and former world #5 Daniela Hantuchová 6–4, 6–7, 6–1 to reach her first WTA final; where she defeated Alona Bondarenko 7–6, 3–6, 6–0 for her first WTA tour title.
Her next tournament was ECM Prague Open where she lost in the opening round to Carla Suárez Navarro. In Bad Gastein Tournament Alexandra suffered yet another opening round exit at the hands of the 4th seeded Iveta Benešová.
In August 2009 she made her Grand Slam debut in 2009 US Open where she lost in the first round to 8th seeded Victoria Azarenka
In Linz Tournament she won in the first round to Sybille Bammer in two sets, before she lost in the second round to 3rd seeded and eventual champion Yanina Wickmayer. She lost in the first round BGL Luxembourg Open to Wickmayer.

2010

At the first Grand Slam of the year, the 2010 Australian Open, Alexandra entered both the singles and the doubles events, these being her first appearances at Melbourne. In singles she lost in the first round to Belgian qualifier Yanina Wickmayer in three sets 6–1, 5–7, 8–10 after a spectacular match. In doubles she teamed up with fellow countrywoman Edina Gallovits. They lost in the first round to American-Czech team of Carly Gullickson-Vladimíra Uhlířová in three sets: 3–6, 6–3, 3–6.

The first highlight of the year came at the Barcelona Ladies Open where Alexandra reached the semifinals. She defeated along the way names such as: Silvia Soler Espinosa, Sara Errani, Arantxa Parra Santonja, only to lose in the semis to Italian Roberta Vinci in three sets, 7–6, 1–6, 2–6.

Dulgheru got her first Top 10 win at the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia against World No. 3 Dinara Safina 6–4, 6–7, 6–1. In the third round, Dulgheru lost to World No. 19 Nadia Petrova 6–0, 3–6, 6–2.

At the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open she defeated World No.6 Elena Dementieva in the second round 6–1, 3–6, 7–5 for her second Top 10. In third round she lost to World No. 30 Lucie Šafářová 6–7, 6–1, 7–6.

Queen of Poland

Alexandra Dulgheru at the 2010 Polsat Warsaw Open, where she successfully defended her 2009 Premier title

She won her second WTA Premier title and second WTA overall at Polsat Warsaw Open where she was the defending champion. In the first rounds she won over Kateryna Bondarenko and Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets. In the Quarterfinals she won over Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6–4, 7–5. In the semifinals she won over 3rd seeded and World No. 12 Li Na 6–4, 3–6, 6–4. In the final she won over 5th seeded Zheng Jie 6–3, 6–4.

Grand Slams and injury

Playing at the 2010 French Open for the first time she defeated Lucie Hradecká 7–6, 4–6, 6–3 in the first round and Timea Bacsinszky 6–4, 6–2 in the second. She lost to third seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6–3, 6–4 in the third round.

In doubles she teamed up with Italian Alberta Brianti. They defeated the team of Jill Craybas and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–1, 6–4 in the first round. Then they played fifth seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta in the second round but lost the match 7–5, 7–6.

Another semifinal followed at the UNICEF Open. For the first time in her career she was a seeded player (5th seed) and following wins over Julie Coin, Alla Kudryavtseva and Yaroslava Shvedova, Alexandra eventually lost in the semis to 1st seed, Belgian Justine Henin, in straight sets: 2–6, 2–6.

A first time appearance at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships saw Alexandra entering the all three possible draws: singles, doubles and mixed doubles. In singles, the 31st seed Alexandra, defeated in the first round Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in three sets: 6–2, 6–7, 6–1. She faced in the second round qualifier Romina Oprandi who she swept through in straight sets: 6–2, 6–0. Her victorious run ended in the third round where she lost to Estonian qualifier Kaia Kanepi in two sets: 1–6, 2–6. In the doubles event she teamed up with Italian Alberta Brianti. They lost in the first round in straight sets, 1–6, 2–6 to American-Kazakh team and eventual Wimbledon Champions, Vania King-Yaroslava Shvedova. In the mixed doubles section she teamed up with Spaniard David Marrero. In the first round they defeated Wild Card entries, Britons Ross Hutchins-Anne Keothavong, 6–4, 6–4. They lost in the second round to 12th seeded pair of Australian-Taiwanese duo Paul Hanley and Chan Yung-jan in straight sets: 1–6, 3–6.

Alexandra Dulgheru at the 2010 US Open

At the GDF SUEZ Grand Prix, 2nd seeded Alexandra reached her fourth semifinal of the year. She won over Sandra Záhlavová, Anna Chakvetadze and Anastasija Sevastova being defeated in the semis by crowd favorite, 7th seeded Hungarian Ágnes Szávay in three sets: 1–6, 7–5, 5–7.

Following good form, Alexandra was 2nd seeded at ECM Prague Open too. In the first round she defeated Italian Tathiana Garbin in three sets: 6–4, 2–6, 6–2. Soon after the victory she felt pain in her right knee and had to withdrew from the tournament ahead of her 2nd round clash with Slovenian Polona Hercog. The injury held her away from tennis for one month.

In August 2010 she returned to the courts preparing for the US Open Series. She entered the Cincinnati Masters where she lost in the first round to Russian Alisa Kleybanova in straight sets: 6–4, 6–4. Her next stop was the Canada Masters. She faced in the first round Austrian Sybille Bammer who defeated her in three sets: 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. In search of her good form and recovering from her injury in July she entered the New Haven tournament where she once again lost in the first round to American qualifier, Bethanie Mattek-Sands in straight sets: 6–2, 6–1.

She finally found her game at the 2010 US Open where she entered both singles and doubles events. In singles, being the 25th seed she won in the first round over French Julie Coin in straight sets: 6–1, 6–3. She then faced in the second round Swede Sofia Arvidsson who she defeated also in straight sets: 7–6, 6–1. Her run came to an end in the third round where she lost to 7th seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva in straight sets: 2–6, 6–7. In the doubles event, partnering Slovak Magdaléna Rybáriková, Alexandra and her partner surprised in the first round 3rd seeded Spanish duo consisting of Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez in three sets: 6–4, 4–6, 7–6. In the second round Alexandra and her partner defeated the Romanian-Polish duo of Edina Gallovits and Klaudia Jans in straight sets: 6–2, 6–3. Their run was stopped by 14th seeded Russian duo of Elena Vesnina-Vera Zvonareva who defeated Alexandra and Magdaléna in two sets: 7–5, 6–3.

2011

Dulgheru started off the year losing in the first round of both of her first two tournaments in straight sets: in the Brisbane International, against the eventual finalist Andrea Petkovic, and in the Medibank International Sydney, against 3-time Grand Slam winner Kim Clijsters. Her poor form on continued at the Australian Open losing 4–6, 4–6 to the unseeded player, Ayumi Morita.She lost again at Qatar Ladies Open in Doha to Klara Zakopalova 6–7,2–6. At Indian Wells, she lost in the second round in 3 sets to Lucie Hradecka 6–4, 4–6, 4–6. Then in Miami, Dulgheru found her form and had a very good tournament. She won in the second round over Chanelle Scheepers 6–3, 6–2, and in the third round over Johanna Larsson 6–2,6–1 .In the fourth round she beat Shuai Peng, 6–3, 6–4 . In the quarterfinals Dulgheru faced Sharapova, and they played a marathon 3 and a half hour match . Dulgheru won the first set 6–3 . Then Sharapova won the second set 7–6, 8–6 in the tiebreak . In the third set,at 5–4 Dulgheru served for the match, but Sharapova got a break and then won the match in the third set tiebreak 7–5.

At the 2011 US Open, Dulgheru defeated fifth seed Petra Kvitová 7–6, 6–3 in the first round ^[6] before losing in the second to fellow countrywoman Monica Niculescu 3–6, 0–6.

WTA Career Finals

Singles: 2 (2–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	23 May 2009	Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Alona Bondarenko	7–6(7–3), 3–6, 6–0
Winner	2.	22 May 2010	Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Zheng Jie	6–3, 6–4

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Runners-Up	1.	25 October 2010	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Magdaléna Rybáriková	Alexandra Panova Tatiana Poutchek	3–6, 4–6

ITF Circuit finals: 11 (5–6)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	May 15, 2005	ITF $10,000 Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Liana Balaci	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	May 22, 2005	ITF $10,000 Piteşti, Romania	Clay	Anamaria-Alexandra Sere	5–7, 2–6
Runner-up	3.	November 19, 2006	ITF $10,000 Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Liana Balaci	1–6, 1–6
Runner-up	4.	July 15, 2007	ITF $25,000 Toruń, Poland	Clay	Stefanie Vögele	2–6, 6–4, 5–7
Runner-up	5.	August 5, 2007	ITF $25,000 Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Sorana Cîrstea	4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	6.	April 11, 2009	ITF $75,000 Monzón, Spain	Hard	Kimiko Date-Krumm	5–7, 2–6
Winner	7.	April 26, 2009	ITF $25,000 Bari, Italy	Clay	Sandra Záhlavová	6–4, 6–4
Winner	8.	September 20, 2009	ITF $100,000 Sofia, Bulgaria	Clay	Tathiana Garbin	6–7(4–7), 7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	9.	September 27, 2009	ITF $100,000+H Saint-Malo, France	Clay	Arantxa Parra Santonja	4–6, 3–6
Winner	10.	October 10, 2009	ITF $75,000+H Jounieh, Lebanon	Clay	Zuzana Kučová	3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Winner	11.	February 12, 2012	ITF $100,000+H Cali, Colombia	Clay	Mandy Minella	6-3, 1-6, 6-3

Singles performance timeline

Key

Won tournament, or reached Final, Semifinal, Quarterfinal, Round 4, 3, 2, 1, played in Round Robin or lost in Qualification Round 3, Round 2, Round 1, Absent from a tournament or Participated in a team event, played in a Davis Cup Zonal Group (with its number indication) or Play-off, won a bronze or silver match at the Olympics. The last is for a Masters Series/1000 tournament that was relegated (Not a Masters Series). This table is current through 2012 BNP Paribas Open.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alexandra Dulgheru

• Alexandra Dulgheru at the Women's Tennis Association
• Alexandra Dulgheru at the International Tennis Federation
• Alexandra Dulgheru at the Fed Cup
• Alexandra Dulgheru activity at Tenis Romania website
• (Romanian) Cele mai noi stiri despre Alexandra Dulgheru

References

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top ten Romanian female singles tennis players as of May 21, 2012 Monica Niculescu (34 1) Sorana Cîrstea (41 4) Simona Halep (49 1) Irina-Camelia Begu (58 2) Alexandra Cadanțu (75 1) Edina Gallovits-Hall (85 ) Alexandra Dulgheru (112 24) Mihaela Buzărnescu (149 2) Elena Bogdan (200 1) Mădălina Gojnea (208 3)

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top ten Romanian female doubles tennis players as of May 21, 2012 Monica Niculescu (29 1) Irina-Camelia Begu (37 1) Sorana Cîrstea (86 ) Elena Bogdan (113 1) Alexandra Dulgheru (116 1) Alexandra Cadanțu (119 ) Raluca Olaru (131 1) Mihaela Buzărnescu (150 1) Simona Halep (151 1) Diana Enache (232 )