Elena Ruse

Elena-Gabriela Ruse (born 6 November 1997) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of world No. 51 and a doubles ranking of No. 32 achieved in May 2022 and 2023 respectively. She is currently the No. 2 Romanian player.
Ruse won her maiden WTA Tour singles title at the 2021 Hamburg Open.
She has also won six singles and eleven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.

Junior career

2012–2015

Ruse won two junior singles titles and eight junior doubles titles. The biggest title of her junior career was the Grade-1 Canadian Open Junior Championships, where she beat Katie Swan in the final. Ruse also reached the semifinals of the 2014 Wimbledon girls' singles event in 2014 and the final of Eddie Herr. On the ITF Junior Circuit, she had a career-high combined ranking of 7, achieved on 18 May 2015.

Professional career

2015–2016: WTA Tour debut

When Ruse finished her junior career, she still did not have a professional ranking.

In July 2015, Ruse made her WTA Tour main-draw debut as a wildcard at the Bucharest Open in the doubles event, partnering Jaqueline Cristian. She also received a wildcard into the qualifying draw in singles at the same tournament and beat Alexandra Cadanțu in the first round. She lost her next match to Maria Sakkari. She reached semifinals at $10k events in Bucharest and Antalya.

In December 2015, Ruse won her first professional singles title at Antalya, beating Ekaterine Gorgodze in the final. She finished 2015 with a year-end ranking of No. 642 in singles and No. 575 in doubles.

In January 2016, she qualified for the $25k event in Sunrise, beating former top-30 player Laura Robson along the way, and reached the quarterfinals. After that event, she won ten singles matches and eight doubles matches in a row and won two singles and two doubles titles at $10k events in Antalya. In March, Ruse reached two straight finals at $10k events in Hammamet, Tunisia. She lost the first one to Claudia Giovine in straight sets, snapping her 14-match winning streak in singles, and in the second one she beat Julia Grabher. At the end of April, Ruse qualified for a $25k event in Chiasso, Switzerland and reached the semifinals, where she lost to fellow qualifier Amanda Carreras.

After taking time off for her high school graduation, Ruse returned to competition in June at the $50k event in Essen, Germany. As the last direct acceptance, Ruse shocked top seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich in three sets for her first win over a top-100 player. Due to rain delays in Essen, she had to play her second-round match the same day and lost in straight sets to qualifier Olga Sáez Larra.

2018–2019: Major debut, Bucharest doubles final

Ruse qualified for her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships.

She reached her first WTA tournament final at the 2019 Bucharest Open, partnering again with Jaqueline Cristian; they were defeated by Viktória Kužmová and Kristýna Plíšková in the championship match.

2021: First WTA title, US Open doubles quarterfinal

She made her WTA 1000 debut at the Indian Wells Open as a qualifier.

Ruse won her maiden WTA Tour singles title at the Hamburg European Open, defeating Andrea Petkovic in the final. As a result of this successful run, she climbed 65 positions and entered the top 150 in singles at a new career-high of world No. 133. Following her run in Hamburg, Ruse reached a second consecutive final later that month, at the Palermo Ladies Open; however, she lost it in straight sets to Danielle Collins.

She made her US Open debut as a qualifier, but lost in the first round to Markéta Vondroušová. At the same tournament she reached her first Grand Slam doubles quarterfinal partnering Monica Niculescu.

She reached another new career-high of No. 83 in the world on 18 October 2021, and finished the year ranked No. 85.

2022: Top-10 win & career-high singles ranking

In Dubai, she qualified into the main draw and defeated world No. 5 and third seed Paula Badosa for her first top-10 win.

She reached a new career-high ranking of No. 51, on 23 May 2022.

2023: First singles final since 2021

In doubles at the Australian Open, she reached the semifinals partnering Marta Kostyuk.
She reached the second round at the Monterrey Open as a qualifier, defeating Mérida Open champion Camila Giorgi.

She qualified for her only Major of the season, in singles at the US Open. At the same tournament in doubles, she reached the third round with Kostyuk.
Ranked No. 188, she reached her first final in more than two years and for the season as a wildcard at the Transylvania Open.

2024: US Open third round, second top 10 win, back to top 100

At the 2024 French Open, she reached the doubles semifinals for the first time at this Major, partnering again Marta Kostyuk, with wins over ninth seeds Leylah Fernandez and Erin Routliffe, and then Mirra Andreeva and Vera Zvonareva by walkover.

She reached the semifinals at the WTA 125 Ladies Hamburg Open defeating two seeds en-route, eighth seed Laura Pigossi and second seed Tamara Korpatsch, and returned to the top 125 in the rankings on 12 August 2024.

Ranked No. 122, she qualified for the main draw at the US Open defeating Julia Grabher and then upsetting eighth seed Barbora Krejčíková, her second top 10 win, to reach the third round of a major for the first time in her career. She lost to 26th seed Paula Badosa in the third round, after a deciding set tiebreak. She returned to the top 100 in the singles rankings at world No. 93 on 23 September 2024.

Alongside Monica Niculescu, she won the doubles at the Hong Kong 125 Open in October, defeating Nao Hibino and Makoto Ninomiya in the final. Partnering Monica Niculescu, Ruse won the doubles title at the WTA 125 Open Angers Arena Loire, defeating Belinda Bencic and Celine Naef in the final.

2025: WTA 1000 third round, First grass court final

Ruse defeated wildcard entrant Elsa Jacquemot, qualifier Camilla Rosatello and lucky loser Jessika Ponchet to reach the semifinals at the Rouen Open, where she lost to top seed and eventual champion Elina Svitolina.

She qualified for the WTA 1000 Italian Open and defeated Polina Kudermetova to make it through to the second round, where she lost to 29th seed Danielle Collins.

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

''After the 2025 French Open.''

Doubles

''Current through the 2024 French Open.''

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

Doubles: 1 (runner-up)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 9 (6 titles, 3 runner–ups)

Doubles: 20 (11 titles, 9 runner–ups)

Head-to-head records

Record against top 10 players

* She has a 2–4 () 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:Ruse, Elena
Romanian female tennis players
1997 births
Living people
Tennis players from Bucharest
21st-century Romanian sportswomen