WTA Tour

JANUARY - Reached 2r at Auckland (l. to Zheng); fell 1r at Hobart (l. to Chakvetadze); won second WTA doubles title at Hobart (w/Begu); reached 3r at Australian Open (l. to Wozniacki).

2002 - Played first events of career on ITF Circuit, winning one singles title and one doubles title.

2003 - Won two singles titles and one doubles title on ITF Circuit.

2004 - Won four singles titles and four doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2005 - Played first WTA qualifying at Modena; won four singles titles and four doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2006 - Fell in WTA qualifying once; won one singles title and five doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2007 - Played first WTA main draw at Dubai, falling 1r (as WC, l. to Kirilenko); fell in qualifying six times (incl. all four majors); won three singles titles and four doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2008 - First Top 50 season; QF at Tashkent; reached 2r six times (incl. Wimbledon); fell 1r eight times (incl. other three majors) and in qualifying five times; made Top 100 debut on May 19 (rose from No.111 to No.86) and Top 50 debut on November 10 (rose from No.53 to No.47); won one doubles title on ITF Circuit.

2009 - Another Top 100 season; QF twice, at Strasbourg and Tashkent; reached 2r six times (incl. Australian Open); fell 1r 14 times (incl. other three majors) and in qualifying once; won one WTA doubles title; withdrew from Marbella, Barcelona and Bad Gastein w/forearm injury.

2010 - Third Top 100 season; SF at Tashkent (l. to Vesnina); reached 2r three times (incl. Wimbledon); fell 1r five times (incl. Australian Open, US Open) and in qualifying nine times (incl. Roland Garros); won one doubles title on ITF Circuit.

2011 - First Top 30 season highlighted by strong results in last three tournaments, reaching first Grand Slam 4r at US Open (l. to Kerber), SF at Beijing (l. to Petkovic) and first WTA final at Luxembourg (l. to Azarenka); went into US Open ranked No.68 but No.30 on November 7 year-end rankings; best result in first 17 events of year was SF at Estoril (l. to Medina Garrigues); also reached 3r once (Australian Open) and 2r five times (incl. Wimbledon); fell 1r five times (incl. Roland Garros) and in qualifying five times; withdrew from Strasbourg w/left wrist injury and from Budapest, Bad Gastein and Tashkent w/abdominal injury.

SINGLES
Winner: 2007 - ITF/Istanbul 3-TUR, ITF/Port Pirie-AUS, ITF/Mount Gambier-AUS; 2006 - ITF/Darmstadt-GER; 2005 - ITF/Cairo 1-EGY, ITF/Ain El Soukhna-EGY, ITF/Antalya 2-TUR, ITF/Coimbra-POR; 2004 - ITF/Albufeira-POR, ITF/Portimao-POR, ITF/Bucharest 1-ROU, ITF/Iasi-ROU; 2003 - ITF/Cavtat-CRO, ITF/Timisoara-ROU; 2002 - ITF/Bucharest 1-ROU.
Finalist (1): 2011 - Luxembourg.

DOUBLES
Winner (2): 2012 - Hobart (w/Begu); 2010 - ITF/Petange-LUX (w/Fichman); 2009 - Budapest (w/Kleybanova); 2008 - ITF/Cagnes-sur-Mer-FRA (w/Voracova); 2007 - ITF/Putignano-ITA (w/Klepac), ITF/Darmstadt-GER (w/Dzehalevich), ITF/Mount Gambier-AUS (w/Matic), ITF/Dubai 2-UAE (w/Erakovic); 2006 - ITF/Bucharest 2-ROU, ITF/Bucharest 3-ROU (both w/G.Niculescu), ITF/Stuttgart-Vaihingen 2-GER, ITF/Mestre-ITA (both w/Voracova), ITF/Darmstadt-GER (w/Savransky); 2005 - ITF/Cairo 1-EGY, ITF/Ain El Soukhna-EGY, ITF/Antalya 1-TUR, ITF/Antalya 2-TUR (all w/G.Niculescu); 2004 - ITF/Bucharest 1-ROU, ITF/Targu Mures-ROU, ITF/Iasi-ROU (all w/G.Niculescu), ITF/Bucharest 2-ROU (w/Gojnea); 2003 - ITF/Makarska 2-CRO (w/G.Niculescu); 2002 - ITF/Bucharest 2-ROU (w/G.Niculescu).
Finalist (5): 2011 - Baku (w/Voskoboeva); 2010 - Hobart (w/Chan), Prague (w/Szavay); 2009 - Stanford (w/Chan); 2008 - New Haven (w/Cirstea).

Coached by Calin Ciorbagiu; also trains with Sorana Cirstea and Ioana Raluca Olaru when they are in Bucharest ... Born in Slatina, Romania; has been living in Bucharest since age 4 ... Began playing at age 5; earliest memory of tennis was playing against sister ... Mother is Cristiana Silvia Niculescu (pharmaceutical sales rep); father is Mihai Niculescu (engineer); has an older sister, Gabriela (was a pro tennis player and currently attends USC) ... Admires Hingis, Agassi ... Enjoys shopping, reading, seeing family ... Favorite movie is Butterfly Effect.