Cristian has career-high WTA rankings of No. 58 in singles and No. 168 in doubles. She has won 14 singles and ten doubles titles on tournaments of the ITF Circuit.[1][2]
She reached the quarterfinals of a WTA event for the first time as a qualifier at the WTA 500 St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy where she lost to fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. In September, she reached her first semifinal at a WTA tournament at the Astana Open.[3] She reached the quarterfinals of the first edition of the Transylvania Open as a wildcard where she lost to top seed Simona Halep. She began a tradition of wearing a Dracula-like cape on court before or after her matches there.[4] She reached the top 100 on 8 November 2021.[5]
At the Linz Open, she reached the final as a lucky loser following Halep's withdrawal due to injury from the semifinal[6] but lost to Alison Riske in three sets.[7] As a result, she moved 29 positions up in the rankings, having been ranked world No. 100 at the beginning of the tournament.
2022: Major & WTA 1000 debuts & first wins, top 60, hiatus
She made her Grand Slam debut in Melbourne, at the Australian Open where she recorded her first major win against Greet Minnen.[8] As a result, she reached a new career-high ranking of No. 58 on 31 January 2022.At the same event, she reached the third round of the doubles draw on her debut, partnering Andrea Petkovic.She made her WTA 1000 debut at the Qatar Ladies Open as a lucky loser and defeated 11th seed Elena Rybakina for her first win at this level.
She returned after six months of hiatus to make her debut at the US Open where she lost to second seed Anett Kontaveit.
In the end of January 2024, she entered the WTA 500 Linz Open as a lucky loser and defeated Nadia Podoroska. At home in Cluj Napoca, Romania she reached the semifinals for the first time in her career at the tournament. It was her first WTA Tour semifinal since July 2023 in Prague.[9]
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
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Romania
