Ioana Raluca Olaru (born 3 March 1989) is a Romanian former tennis player. The winner of eleven singles and fifteen doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, Olaru reached one WTA Tour singles final, at the 2009 Gastein Ladies,WTA Tour: Petkovic, Olaru Into Final (25 July 2009) losing to Andrea Petkovic, in straight sets.Sony Ericsson WTA Tour: Petkovic Wins First Tour Title (26 July 2009) She also won eleven doubles titles on WTA Tour tournaments.
Olaru was a successful junior player. She was the runner-up in both junior singles and doubles at the 2005 French Open, and captured the 2006 US Open doubles title along with Mihaela Buzărnescu. Her best result as professional at a major was reaching the third round of the 2007 French Open, when she defeated the 30th seed, Julia Vakulenko, in straight sets, and lost to eventual runner-up and seventh seed, Ana Ivanovic. Olaru reached her highest singles ranking, world No. 53, on 27 July 2009, and her best doubles ranking, No. 30, on 31 January 2022.
Olaru announced her retirement from tennis in June 2024.
Personal life Olaru resides in her hometown Bucharest.Ioana Raluca Olaru at the International Tennis Federation Her parents, Adrian and Doina, run a convenience store together.WTA Tour: Getting to Know... Ioana Raluca Olaru (24 July 2009) Her sister Cristina is 16 years older than Olaru, and lives in London. Olaru began playing tennis aged seven, and cites Kim Clijsters,WTA Tour | Players | Info (Biography) | Ioana Raluca Olaru Martina Navratilova and Roger Federer as her role models. She graduated from school in 2007, and is fluent in English, Spanish and Romanian.
Tennis career Raluca started her 2017 season at Shenzhen Open where she reached the final with Olga Savchuk, but they lost 1–6, 5–7 to Peng Shuai and Andrea Hlaváčková. The following week, partnering with Olga Savchuk, Olaru won the doubles title at the Hobart International, it was her sixth career doubles title.
Playing style Olaru considers being a fighter as her biggest asset. She cites clay as her favourite surface and backhand down the line as favourite shot, but she can play well on all surfaces and she likes mixing her game with drop shots. Olaru was coached by Adrian Gavrila, Adrian Cruciat and Artemon Apostu Efremov.
Performance timelines Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
Singles Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Win %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAA1RQ21RQ2AQ1A0 / 20–2French OpenAA3R1R1R1RQ1AQ1A0 / 42–4WimbledonAAA1R2R2RQ1AQ1A0 / 32–3US OpenAA2R2R1RQ1AAAA0 / 32–3Win–loss0–00–03–21–41–31–30–00–00–00–00 / 126–12National representationSummer OlympicsNHANHANHA0 / 00–0Billie Jean King CupAAZ1Z1AAPO2WGWG2WG20 / 0 — —WTA 1000Qatar OpenNTIAAAAAAA0 / 00–0Dubai ChampionshipsNTIAAAAAAA0 / 00–0Indian WellsAAA2RA1RAAAA0 / 21–2Miami OpenAAA1RA1RAAAA0 / 20–2Madrid OpenNHQ2AAAAA0 / 00–0Italian OpenAAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0Canadian OpenAAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0Cincinnati OpenNMSQ1AAAAAA0 / 00–0Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 0–0 0–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 4 1–4 Career statistics 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Win %Titles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Career total: 0Finals 0 0 0 01 0 0 0 0 0Career total: 1Year-end ranking 509 311 56 126 73 182 247 247 359 773
Doubles Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Win %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian Open A A A1R A2R1R A A2R1R2R2R2R1R1R2R2R A 0 / 12 7–12 French Open A A A1R A1R A A A1R1R1RQF1R1R1R2R1R A 0 / 11 4–11 Wimbledon A A A AQ1 A A A2R1R1R1R1R1R1RNH3R3R A 0 / 9 5–9 US Open A A A A1R A A A A1R3R1R1R2R2R1R3R1R A 0 / 10 6–10 Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 0–1 1–2 0–1 0–0 1–1 1–4 2–4 1–4 4–4 2–4 1–4 0–3 4–3 3–4 0–0 0 / 42 22–42 National representationSummer OlympicsNH ANH ANH ANH2RNH A2RNH A 0 / 2 2–2 Billie Jean King Cup A A AZ1 A APO2WGWG2WG2WGPOWG2WGSF A A A A 0 / 0 7–5 WTA 1000 tournaments Qatar Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0 Dubai Championships A A A A A A A1R A1R2R AQF A A A A A A 0 / 4 3–4 Indian Wells Open A A A A A A A A A A2R1R1R1RQFNH1R1R A 0 / 7 3–7 Miami Open A A A A A A A A A A A1R1R1RQFNH1R1R A 0 / 6 2–6 Madrid OpenNH A A A2R2R A A1RNH2R A A A A A 0 / 4 2–4 Italian Open A A A A A A A A A A1R A A A1RF1R A A 0 / 4 4–4 Canadian Open A A A A A A A A A AQF A A A2RNH A A A 0 / 2 3–1 Cincinnati OpenNMS A A A A1RQF2R1R A1R ANH A A A 0 / 5 3–5 Wuhan OpenNMS1R1R A1R A2RNH A 0 / 4 1–4 China OpenNMS A A A A A A A A2R1R A2R1R1RNH 0 / 5 2–5 Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–2 1–3 4–7 0–4 2–4 1–4 5–6 4–0 0–4 0–2 0–0 0 / 41 19–38 Career statistics Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Win %Tournaments 1 1 2 6 11 10 6 1 9 22 24 23 23 21 22 10 20 12 0Career total: 224Titles 0 0 01 0 01 011 0122 0 02 0 0Career total: 11Overall win–loss— 11 / 224 337–273 Year-end ranking no rank no rank no rank no rank no rank no rank no rank no rank 73 55 54 74 36 44 48 43 36 155
Mixed doubles Tournament 2005-2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenA1R A 0 / 1 0–1French OpenA2RNHA 0 / 1 1–1WimbledonA3R1R2R2RQFNHA 0 / 5 6–5US OpenA2RQF2RNHA 0 / 3 4–3Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 0–1 2–2 3–2 4–3 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0 / 10 11–10
Significant finals
Premier-Mandatory/Premier-5 tournaments
Doubles: 1 (runner-up) ResultYearTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 2020Italian Open Clay Anna-Lena Friedsam Hsieh Su-wei Barbora Strýcová 2–6, 2–6
WTA Tour finals
Singles: 1 (runner-up) LegendWTA 250 (0–1)Finals by surfaceClay (0–1)Finals by settingOutdoor (0–1)
ResultDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore Loss Jul 2009 Gastein Ladies, Austria International Clay Andrea Petkovic 2–6, 3–6
Doubles: 24 (11 titles, 13 runner-ups) LegendWTA 1000 (0–1)WTA 500 (1–2)WTA 250 (10–10)Finals by surfaceHard (7–5)Clay (4–7)Grass (0–1)Finals by settingOutdoor (9–10)Indoor (2–3)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 0–1 Jul 2008 Budapest Grand Prix, Hungary Tier III Clay Vanessa Henke Alizé Cornet Janette Husárová 7–6(7–5), 1–6, [6–10]Win 1–1 Oct 2008 Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan Tier IV Hard Olga Savchuk Nina Bratchikova Kathrin Wörle 5–7, 7–5, [10–7]Win 2–1 Feb 2011 Abierto Mexicano, Mexico International Hard Mariya Koryttseva Arantxa Parra Santonja Lourdes Domínguez Lino 5–7, 7–5, [10–7]Loss 2–2 Apr 2013 Katowice Open, Poland International Clay (i) Valeria Solovyeva Lara Arruabarrena Lourdes Domínguez Lino 4–6, 5–7Win 3–2 Jun 2013 Nuremberg Cup, Germany International Clay Valeria Solovyeva Anna-Lena Grönefeld Květa Peschke 2–6, 7–6(7–3), [11–9]Loss 3–3 May 2014 Nuremberg Cup, Germany International Clay Shahar Pe'er Michaëlla Krajicek Karolína Plíšková 0–6, 6–4, [6–10]Loss 3–4 Jul 2014 Baku Cup, Azerbaijan International Hard Shahar Pe'er Alexandra Panova Heather Watson 2–6, 6–7(3–7)Win 4–4 Oct 2014 Linz Open, Austria International Hard (i) Anna Tatishvili Annika Beck Caroline Garcia 6–2, 6–1Loss 4–5 May 2015 Nuremberg Cup, Germany International Clay Lara Arruabarrena Chan Hao-ching Anabel Medina Garrigues 4–6, 6–7(5–7)Loss 4–6 Apr 2016 Rabat Grand Prix, Morocco International Clay Tatjana Maria Xenia Knoll Aleksandra Krunić 3–6, 0–6Win 5–6 Oct 2016 Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan (2) International Hard İpek Soylu Demi Schuurs Renata Voráčová 7–5, 6–3Loss 5–7 Jan 2017 Shenzhen Open, China International Hard Olga Savchuk Andrea Hlaváčková Peng Shuai 1–6, 5–7Win 6–7 Jan 2017 Hobart International, Australia International Hard Olga Savchuk Gabriela Dabrowski Yang Zhaoxuan 0–6, 6–4, [10–5]Win 7–7 Jul 2017 Bucharest Open, Romania International Clay Irina-Camelia Begu Elise Mertens Demi Schuurs 6–3, 6–3Win 8–7 May 2018 Rabat Grand Prix, Morocco International Clay Anna Blinkova Georgina García Pérez Fanny Stollár 6–4, 6–4Win 9–7 May 2018 Strasbourg International, France International Clay Mihaela Buzărnescu Nadiia Kichenok Anastasia Rodionova 7–5, 7–5Loss 9–8 Sep 2018 Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan International Hard Irina-Camelia Begu Olga Danilović Tamara Zidanšek 5–7, 3–6Loss 9–9 Oct 2018Kremlin Cup, RussiaPremier Hard (i) Darija Jurak Alexandra Panova Laura Siegemund 2–6, 6–7(2–7)Loss 9–10 Aug 2020 Prague Open, Czech Republic International Clay Monica Niculescu Lucie Hradecká Kristýna Plíšková 2–6, 2–6Loss 9–11 Sep 2020Italian Open, ItalyPremier 5 Clay Anna-Lena Friedsam Hsieh Su-wei Barbora Strýcová 2–6, 2–6Win 10–11 Mar 2021St. Petersburg Trophy, RussiaWTA 500 Hard (i) Nadiia Kichenok Kaitlyn Christian Sabrina Santamaria 2–6, 6–3, [10–8]Loss 10–12 Jun 2021 Bad Homburg Open, Germany WTA 250 Grass Nadiia Kichenok Darija Jurak Andreja Klepač 3–6, 1–6Win 11–12 Aug 2021 Chicago Open, United States WTA 250 Hard Nadiia Kichenok Lyudmyla Kichenok Makoto Ninomiya 7–6(8–6), 5–7, [10–8]Loss 11–13 Oct 2021Kremlin Cup, RussiaWTA 500 Hard (i) Nadiia Kichenok Jeļena Ostapenko Kateřina Siniaková 2–6, 6–4, [8–10]
WTA 125 finals Doubles: 1 (runner-up) ResultDateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss May 2016Bol Ladies Open, Croatia Clay İpek Soylu Xenia Knoll Petra Martić 3–6, 2–6
ITF Circuit finals Legend$100,000 tournaments$75,000 tournaments$50,000 tournaments$25,000 tournaments$10,000 tournaments
Singles: 18 (11 titles, 7 runner-ups) ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 0–1 Aug 2004ITF Iași, Romania10,000 Clay Monica Niculescu 6–7, 0–6Win 1–1 Apr 2005ITF Herceg Novi, Serbia10,000 Clay Miljana Adanko 7–5, 7–6(2)Win 2–1 Jul 2005ITF Bucharest, Romania10,000 Clay Anna Bastrikova 6–3, 6–2Win 3–1 Aug 2005ITF Bucharest, Romania10,000 Clay Mădălina Gojnea 7–6(3), 7–5Win 4–1 May 2006ITF Bucharest, Romania10,000 Clay Sorana Cîrstea 1–6, 6–4, 6–1Win 5–1 May 2006ITF Rabat, Morocco10,000 Clay Samia Medjahdi 6–2, 2–6, 7–5Loss 5–2 Jul 2006ITF Mont-de-Marsan, France25,000 Clay Nina Bratchikova 4–6, 6–4, 0–6Win 6–2 Nov 2006ITF Toronto, Canada25,000 Hard(i) Carly Gullickson 6–3, 6–1Win 7–2 Apr 2007ITF Torrent, Spain50,000 Clay Andrea Petkovic 6–4, 5–7, 6–4Loss 7–3 Apr 2007ITF Catania, Italy25,000 Clay Darya Kustova 3–6, 6–2, 3–6Win 8–3 Jul 2008Contrexéville Open, France50,000 Clay Stéphanie Foretz 6–4, 6–2Win 9–3 Jun 2009Open de Marseille, France100,000 Clay Maša Zec Peškirič 6–7(4), 7–5, 6–4Win 10–3 Jul 2011ITF Bad Saulgau, Germany25,000 Clay Tatjana Maria 6–3, 3–6, 7–5Loss 10–4 Apr 2012ITF Pomezia, Italy10,000 Clay Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6–0, 1–6, 1–6Loss 10–5 Oct 2012ITF Brasília, Brazil25,000 Clay Timea Bacsinszky 5–7, 2–6Loss 10–6 Nov 2012ITF Asunción, Paraguay25,000 Clay Verónica Cepede Royg 7–5, 6–7(7), 2–6Loss 10–7 Jan 2013ITF Eilat, İsrael10,000 Hard Alla Kudryavtseva 7–6(4), 3–6, 2–6Win 11–7 Mar 2013ITF Antalya, Turkey10,000 Clay Jovana Jakšić 6–3, 7–5
Doubles: 31 (15 titles, 16 runner-ups)