The Athlete of the Week

Florin Orban, 31.08.2021, 11:59

All eyes in world tennis are now on the US Open, the final Grand Slam tournament of the year. In the run-up to this event, a number of smaller tournaments were held in men’s and women’s tennis, including a WTA event in Chicago, which was won by the Romanian-Ukrainian pair Raluca Olaru and Nadiia Kichenok. They defeated Makoto Ninomiya of Japan and Nadiia’s twin sister Lyudmyla Kichenok in three sets, 7-6, 5-7, 10-8. For this achievement, Radio Romania International has designated Raluca Olaru the Athlete of the Week.

Raluca Olaru was born on 3rd March 1989 in Bucharest and has been playing professional tennis since she was 14 years old. The title she won in Chicago is her 11th WTA doubles title. Her first came in Tashkent in 2008, when she paired up with Turkey’s Ipek Soylu. Her second title came in 2011 in Acapulco, together with Ukraine’s Maria Koritseva. This was followed by more success in Nurnberg, in 2013, together with Russia’s Valeria Solovieva and in Linz, in 2014, together with Anna Tatishvili of the US. Olaru won two titles in 2017: in Hobart, together with Olga Savchuk, and in Bucharest, together with Irina Begu. In 2018, Olaru won the Rabat tournament together with Russia’s Ana Blinkova and the Strasbourg tournament together with her fellow national Mihaela Buzărnescu. This year, apart from the victory in Chicago, Olaru also won in Saint Petersburg, also together with Nadiia Kichenok.

In singles, Raluca Olaru reached a WTA final only once, namely in Linz, in 2009, where she lost to Germany’s Andrea Petkovic. Olaru is considered at the moment Romania’s best doubles player in women’s tennis. She is 32nd in the world doubles ranking, having gone up four places this week. (CM)