Cristina Bucșa

Cristina Bucsa Bucsa (; born 1 January 1998) is a Moldovan-born Spanish professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 56 in singles, achieved on 15 January 2024, and No. 19 in doubles, achieved on 10 June 2024. She won a bronze medal in women's doubles at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Early life

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

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

She received her Spanish passport in 2014 and began representing Spain in 2015.

Career

2017–2020: ITF Circuit titles

Bucșa won her first ITF Circuit titles in both singles and doubles in 2017. In May 2017, she won the 15k event in Santarém, defeating Valeria Savinykh in the final. In November 2017, she and doubles partner Yana Sizikova won the Open de Valencia, defeating Georgina García Pérez and Andrea Gámiz in the final.

She entered the qualifiers of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, but lost to Samantha Murray Sharan in the second round. One month later, she won the Open Araba en Femenino with a win over Shalimar Talbi in the final.

2021–2022: Major and WTA 1000 debuts

She entered the singles main draw of a major for the first time at the 2021 US Open, after defeating Kateryna Baindl, Elvina Kalieva, and Océane Dodin in the qualifying competition.

In 2022, she qualified for the Australian Open and the French Open, but lost in the first round of both. Later that year, Bucsa also qualified for her first WTA 1000 event at the Canadian Open. At the US Open, she recorded her first win at a Grand Slam by defeating Kaja Juvan, but lost to 19th seed Danielle Collins in the second round. She and Weronika Falkowska won the doubles title at the Andorrà Open, defeating Angelina Gabueva and Anastasia Zakharova in the final.

2023: Top 100 debut and major third round in singles

Bucșa reached the top 100 in the singles WTA rankings on 16 January 2023. She qualified for the Australian Open and reached the third round recording her first two wins at this major tournament over Eva Lys and Bianca Andreescu. She then lost to world No. 1, Iga Świątek, in the third round. This was her best result at a Grand Slam tournament thus far. At the Lyon Open, she won her first WTA doubles title with Bibiane Schoofs. At the Indian Wells Open, she reached the second round of a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time in her career, defeating Katie Swan as a qualifier.

She made her main-draw debut at Wimbledon and defeated Kamilla Rakhimova for her first win at this major tournament, before losing to fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula in the second round. She and Alena Fomina-Klotz won the doubles title at the Grand Est Open 88, defeating Amina Anshba and Anastasia Dețiuc in the final.

She entered the main draw of the Canadian Open as a lucky loser, but lost to Petra Martić in the first round. On her debut at th Cincinnati Open, she upset 13th seed Belinda Bencic to reach the second round. At the Guadalajara Open, she double bageled former top-ten player Kristina Mladenovic. In mid-December, she won her first WTA 125 singles title at the Open de Limoges, defeating Elsa Jacquemot in the final. She also won the doubles title in Limoges, partnering Yana Sizikova and defeating Oksana Kalashnikova and Maia Lumsden in the final.

2024: Doubles success: Olympic bronze and Madrid title, top 20

She began her season by reaching the doubles semifinal of the Brisbane International with Alexandra Panova. She qualified for the Adelaide International as a lucky loser and defeated Jasmine Paolini in the first round, before losing to top seed Elena Rybakina in the second. 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. As a result, she reached the top 50 in doubles on 29 January 2024. In Abu Dhabi, she reached the quarterfinals as a lucky loser, but once again lost to top seed Elena Rybakina. In Doha, she and partner Monica Niculescu reached the doubles quarterfinal. She then made her debut at the Dubai Championships as a lucky loser by replacing Ons Jabeur in the second round, but lost to eventual finalist Anna Kalinskaya.

Seeded fourth in singles in Bogotá, she defeated You Xiaodi and Jule Niemeier, before losing to her doubles partner Kamilla Rakhimova in the quarterfinals. She and Rakhimova later won the doubles title in Bogotá by defeating the third-seeded team of Anna Bondár and Irina Khromacheva in the final. In Madrid, Bucșa defeated Harriet Dart, before losing to tenth seed Daria Kasatkina in the second round. Seeded eighth in doubles, she and compatriot Sara Sorribes Tormo won the title defeating Barbora Krejčíková and Laura Siegemund in the final, becoming the first all-Spanish doubles team to win in Madrid. This was Bucșa's first WTA 1000 title, which brought her to a career-high doubles ranking of No. 27 on 6 May 2024. The following month, Bucșa won her first WTA 500 doubles title in Strasbourg, partnering Niculescu and defeating Asia Muhammad and Aldila Sutjiadi in the final. En route to the title, Bucșa and Niculescu upset the second-seeded team of Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani in the semifinal.

In May, she recorded her first French Open singles win against qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva in the first round, before losing to Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the second. In doubles, she and Niculescu upset the 14th-seeded team of Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the second round. Following her French Open doubles run, she achieved a career-high doubles ranking of No. 19 and surpassed Sorribes Tormo as the top Spanish female doubles player on 10 June 2024.

She made her Olympic debut in Paris, where she reached the second round in singles with a win over Petra Martić. Seeded eighth in doubles with Sorribes Tormo, they won the bronze medal. Following her bronze medal win, she became the first female and first athlete to be commemorated on the ''Paseo Torre de la Vega'' in her hometown of Torrelavega. At the China Open, she reached the fourth round of a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time in her career, defeating wildcard Yao Xinxin, and upsetting 11th seed Liudmila Samsonova and 24th seed Elise Mertens.

2025: Miami doubles final

In March, Bucșa and Miyu Kato reached the doubles final of the Miami Open, but lost to Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider. En route to the final, they upset the top seeds and world No. 1 and No. 2 players Kateřina Siniaková and Taylor Townsend. She successfully defended her doubles title at the Copa Colsanitas with Sara Sorribes Tormo, defeating Laura Pigossi and Irina Bara in the final.

Performance timelines

''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.''

Singles

''Current through the 2024 US Open.''

Doubles

''Current through the 2024 US Open.''

Mixed doubles

''Current through the 2024 US Open.''

Significant finals

WTA 1000 tournaments

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Olympic medal matches

Doubles: 1 (bronze medal)

WTA Tour finals

Doubles: 9 (6 titles, 3 runner-ups)

WTA Challenger finals

Singles: 1 (title)

Doubles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner-ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 9 (4 titles, 5 runner–ups)

Doubles: 19 (9 titles, 10 runner–ups)

Head-to-head records

Record against top 10 players

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

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucsa, Cristina
1998 births
Living people
Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Moldovan emigrants to Spain
Moldovan female tennis players
Naturalised citizens of Spain
Spanish people of Moldovan descent
Olympic bronze medalists for Spain
Olympic medalists for Spain in tennis
Olympic tennis players for Spain
Spanish female tennis players
Sportspeople from Chișinău
Sportspeople from Torrelavega
Tennis players at the 2024 Summer Olympics
21st-century Spanish sportswomen