Cristina Bucșa

Cristina Bucșa was born in Chișinău, Moldova. Her father, Ion Bucșa, is a former biathlete who was Moldova's flag bearer at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics.^[2][3] When she was three years old, her family moved to Cantabria in northern Spain; they originally moved to Las Fraguas before settling in Torrelavega.^[4] Bucșa attended the Instituto Marqués De Santillana in Torrelavega, where she was awarded the title of Illustrious Alumna in December 2022.^[5] She speaks Spanish, Romanian, English, and French.^[6]

Bucșa began playing tennis at the age of five.^[7][8] In 2014, she moved to Barcelona to train at the Centre d'Alt Rendiment de Sant Cugat,^[2][9] but she moved back to Torrelavega in 2016, where she currently lives and trains.^[10] She is coached by her father, who is self-taught and also acts as her physiotherapist.^[2][11] Being unsponsored, she buys her own kits and rackets for the tour.^[10][12] She does not have any public social media profiles, only using Facebook to keep in touch with other tennis players.^[13]

She received her Spanish passport in 2014 and began representing Spain in 2015.^[2]

2017–2020: ITF Circuit titles

Bucșa won her first ITF Circuit titles in both singles and doubles in 2017. In May 2017, Bucșa won the ITF Santarém title after defeating Valeria Savinykh in the final.^[14] In November 2017, Bucșa and doubles partner Yana Sizikova won the Open Ciudad de Valencia after defeating Georgina García Pérez and Andrea Gámiz in the final.^[15]

Bucșa entered the qualifiers of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, where she lost to Samantha Murray Sharan in the second round.^[16] One month later, she won the Open Araba en Femenino title in Vitoria-Gasteiz.^[17]

2021–2022: Grand Slam debut and WTA 1000 debut

Bucșa entered the singles main draw in a Grand Slam for the first time in her career at the 2021 US Open, after defeating Kateryna Baindl, Elvina Kalieva, and Océane Dodin in qualifying.^[18]

In 2022, Bucșa qualified for the Australian Open and the French Open, but lost in the first round of both.^[19][20] She also qualified for her first WTA 1000 event at the Canadian Open. Bucșa recorded her first win at a major at the US Open, defeating Kaja Juvan before losing to 19th seed Danielle Collins.^[21]

2023: Top 100, first major third round, WTA 1000 wins, WTA 250 doubles title, WTA 125 titles

Bucșa reached the top 100 on 16 January 2023. She qualified for the Australian Open and recorded her first two wins at this major, defeating Eva Lys and Bianca Andreescu.^[22][23] She then lost to world No. 1, Iga Świątek, in the third round.^[24][25] This was her best result at a major thus far.^[26]

At the Lyon Open, she won her first doubles title with Bibiane Schoofs.^[27] As a result, she reached a new career-high doubles ranking of No. 61 on 6 February 2023. In Indian Wells, she reached the second round of a WTA 1000 for the first time in her career, defeating Katie Swan as a qualifier.^[28]

Bucșa made her main draw debut at Wimbledon, defeating Kamilla Rakhimova for her first win before losing to fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula in the second round.^[29][30]

She entered the main draw of the Canadian Open as a lucky loser, but lost to Petra Martić in the first round.^[31] She reached the second round on her debut at the Cincinnati Open, upsetting 13th seed Belinda Bencic.^[32] At the Guadalajara Open, she double bageled former top-ten player Kristina Mladenovic.^[33]

In mid-December, she won her first WTA 125 title at the Open de Limoges, defeating Elsa Jacquemot in the final. She also won the doubles title in Limoges with partner Yana Sizikova after defeating Oksana Kalashnikova and Maia Lumsden in the final.^[34][35]

2024: Top 60 in singles and top 50 in doubles

Bucșa began her season in Brisbane and reached the doubles semifinal with her partner Alexandra Panova.^[36] She qualified for Adelaide as a lucky loser in singles, and defeated Jasmine Paolini before losing to top seed Elena Rybakina in the second round.^[37][38] Following this, she reached a new career-high singles ranking of No. 56 on 15 January 2024. At the Australian Open, she reached the doubles quarterfinals with Panova.^[39][40] As a result, she reached the top 50 in doubles.^[41]

Continuing her campaign on hardcourts, Bucșa participated in the Abu Dhabi Open where, as a lucky loser, she reached the quarterfinals and, once again, lost to top seed Elena Rybakina.^[42] In Doha, she and partner Monica Niculescu reached the doubles quarterfinal.^[43] Bucșa then made her debut at the Dubai Tennis Championships where she replaced fifth seed Ons Jabeur, also as a lucky loser, into the second round, before losing to eventual runner-up Anna Kalinskaya.^[44]

Seeded fourth in singles in Bogotá, Bucșa defeated You Xiaodi and Jule Niemeier before losing to her doubles partner Kamilla Rakhimova in the quarterfinals.^[45] Bucșa and Rakhimova later won the doubles title in Bogotá after defeating the third-seeded team of Anna Bondár and Irina Khromacheva in the final, bringing Bucșa to a career-high doubles ranking of No. 38.^[46] In Madrid, Bucșa defeated Harriet Dart before losing to 10th seed Daria Kasatkina.^[47][48]

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup, United Cup, Hopman Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.^[49]

Singles

Current through the 2024 Madrid Open.

Doubles

Current through the 2024 Miami Open.

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 2022	Portorož Open, Slovenia	WTA 250	Hard	Tereza Mihalíková	Marta Kostyuk Tereza Martincová	4–6, 0–6
Win	1–1	Feb 2023	Lyon Open, France	WTA 250	Hard (i)	Bibiane Schoofs	Olga Danilović Alexandra Panova	7–6(7–5), 6–3
Win	2–1	Apr 2024	Copa Colsanitas, Colombia	WTA 250	Clay	Kamilla Rakhimova	Anna Bondár Irina Khromacheva	7–6(7–5), 3–6, [10–8]

Singles: 1 (title)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Dec 2023	Open de Limoges, France	Hard (i)	Elsa Jacquemot	2–6, 6–1, 6–2

Doubles: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Aug 2021	Concord Open, United States	Hard	Usue Maitane Arconada	Peangtarn Plipuech Jessy Rompies	6–3, 6–7(5–7), [8–10]
Win	1–1	Dec 2022	Andorrà Open, Andorra	Hard (i)	Weronika Falkowska	Angelina Gabueva Anastasia Zakharova	7–6(7–4), 6–1
Win	2–1	Jul 2023	Contrexéville Open, France	Clay	Alena Fomina-Klotz	Amina Anshba Anastasia Dețiuc	4–6, 6–3, [10–7]
Loss	2–2	Aug 2023	Chicago Challenger, United States	Hard	Alexandra Panova	Ulrikke Eikeri Ingrid Neel	walkover
Win	3–2	Dec 2023	Open Angers, France	Hard (i)	Monica Niculescu	Anna Danilina Alexandra Panova	6–1, 6–3
Win	4–2	Dec 2023	Open de Limoges, France	Hard (i)	Yana Sizikova	Oksana Kalashnikova Maia Lumsden	6–4, 6–1

Singles: 9 (4 titles, 5 runner–ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Feb 2015	ITF Palma Nova, Spain	10,000	Clay	Amanda Carreras	5–7, 0–6
Loss	0–2	Sep 2016	ITF Madrid, Spain	10,000	Hard	Nuria Párrizas Díaz	4–6, 6–3, 5–7
Win	1–2	May 2017	ITF Santarém, Portugal	15,000	Hard	Valeria Savinykh	6–4, 6–4
Win	2–2	Jul 2018	ITF Porto, Portugal	25,000	Clay	Jil Teichmann	7–6(7–4), 6–1
Loss	2–3	Nov 2018	ITF Nules, Spain	15,000	Clay	Elisabetta Cocciaretto	2–6, 6–7(2–7)
Loss	2–4	May 2019	ITF Monzón, Spain	25,000	Clay	Nadia Podoroska	2–6, 6–4, 2–6
Win	3–4	Jul 2019	ITF Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain	25,000	Hard	Shalimar Talbi	6–0, 6–4
Win	4–4	Nov 2019	Open Nantes, France	60,000	Hard (i)	Tamara Korpatsch	6–2, 6–7(11–13), 7–6(6)
Loss	4–5	Sep 2020	Open de Saint-Malo, France	60,000	Clay	Nadia Podoroska	6–4, 5–7, 2–6

Doubles: 19 (9 titles, 10 runner–ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2015	ITF Pula, Italy	10,000	Clay	Eva Guerrero Álvarez	Priscilla Hon Aliona Bolsova	0–6, 3–6
Loss	0–2	May 2017	ITF Santarém, Portugal	10,000	Hard	Ksenia Kuznetsova	Valeria Savinykh Valeriya Strakhova	3–6, 2–6
Loss	0–3	Jul 2017	ITF Getxo, Spain	25,000	Clay	Noelia Zeballos	Andrea Gámiz Aleksandrina Naydenova	2–6, 4–6
Loss	0–4	Sep 2017	ITF Middelkerke, Belgium	10,000	Clay	Cristina Adamescu	Sara Cakarevic Magali Kempen	4–6, 6–4, [5–10]
Loss	0–5	Sep 2017	Open de Biarritz, France	80,000	Clay	Isabelle Wallace	Irina Bara Mihaela Buzărnescu	3–6, 1–6
Loss	0–6	Nov 2017	ITF Benicar, Spain	10,000	Clay	Elixane Lechemia	Noelia Bouzó Zanotti Ángeles Moreno Barranquero	3–6, 4–6
Win	1–6	Nov 2017	Open de Valencia, Spain	25,000	Clay	Yana Sizikova	Georgina García Pérez Andrea Gámiz	7–6(7–1), 7–6(7–5)
Win	2–6	May 2018	ITF Mónzon, Spain	25,000	Hard	Yana Sizikova	Sarah Beth Grey Olivia Nicholls	6–2, 5–7, [10–8]
Loss	2–7	Jun 2018	ITF Périgueux, France	25,000	Clay	María Fernanda Herazo	Eleni Kordolaimi Elixane Lechemia	4–6, 6–3, [9–11]
Loss	2–8	Jul 2018	ITF Porto, Portugal	25,000	Clay	Ramu Ueda	Montserrat Gonzalez Laura Pigossi	5–7, 0–6
Win	3–8	Sep 2018	Open de Saint-Malo, France	60.000	Clay	María Fernanda Herazo	Alexandra Cadanțu Diāna Marcinkēviča	4–6, 6–1, [10–8]
Loss	3–9	Oct 2018	ITF Óbidos, Portugal	25,000	Carpet	Diāna Marcinkēviča	Michaëlla Krajicek Ingrid Neel	2–6, 2–6
Win	4–9	Nov 2018	ITF Nules, Spain	10,000	Clay	Claudia Hoste Ferrer	Marina Bassols Ribera Júlia Payola	7–6(7–3), 6–3
Win	5–9	Feb 2018	AK Ladies Open, Germany	25,000	Carpet (i)	Rosalie van der Hoek	Marie Benoît Katarzyna Piter	5–7, 6–3, [12–10]
Win	6–9	Apr 2019	ITF Óbidos, Portugal	25,000	Carpet	Georgina García Pérez	Sofia Shapatava Emily Webley-Smith	7–5, 7–5
Win	7–9	Apr 2019	Chiasso Open, Switzerland	25,000	Clay	Marta Kostyuk	Sharon Fichman Jaimee Fourlis	6–1, 3–6, [10–7]
Loss	7–10	Nov 2019	ITF Saint-Étienne, France	25,000	Hard (i)	Julia Wachaczyk	Marina Melnikova Laura Ioana Paar	3–6, 7–6(9–7), [9–11]
Win	8–10	Mar 2022	ITF Le Havre, France	25,000	Clay	Georgina García Pérez	Diāna Marcinkēviča Chiara Scholl	6–4, 6–3
Win	9–10	Nov 2022	Open de Valencia, Spain	80,000+H	Clay	Ylena In-Albon	Irina Khromacheva Iryna Shymanovich	6–3, 6–2

Record against top 10 players

• She has a 0–6 (0%) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.

Result	W–L	Opponent	Rank	Event	Surface	Round	Score	Rank	H2H
2023
Loss	0–1	Iga Świątek	No. 1	Australian Open, Australia	Hard	3R	0–6, 1–6	No. 100	0–1
Loss	0–2	Coco Gauff	No. 6	Indian Wells Open, US	Hard	2R	2–6, 4–6	No. 90	0–1
Loss	0–3	Iga Świątek	No. 1	French Open, France	Clay	1R	4–6, 0–6	No. 70	0–2
Loss	0–4	Jessica Pegula	No. 4	Wimbledon Championships, UK	Grass	2R	1–6, 4–6	No. 78	0–1
2024
Loss	0–5	Elena Rybakina	No. 3	Adelaide International, Australia	Hard	2R	3–6, 5–7	No. 61	0–1
Loss	0–6	Elena Rybakina	No. 5	Abu Dhabi Open, UAE	Hard	QF	3–6, 4–6	No. 74	0–2

• Cristina Bucșa at the Women's Tennis Association
• Cristina Bucșa at the International Tennis Federation