Jaqueline Cristian

Jaqueline Adina Cristian (born 5 June 1998) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 49 in singles and No. 108 in doubles. She is currently the No. 1 Romanian player. Cristian has won one WTA 125 title, as well as 14 singles and ten doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.

Career

2015–2020: WTA Tour debut

Cristian made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2015 Bucharest Open in the doubles event, partnering Elena-Gabriela Ruse. In March 2017, she received a qualifying wildcard for the Miami Open.

Cristian reached her maiden WTA Tour final at the 2019 Bucharest Open in the doubles event, again partnering Ruse.

2021: Breakthrough & top 100

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. 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. She reached the top 100 on 8 November 2021.

At the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, she reached the final as a lucky loser following Halep's withdrawal due to injury from the semifinal but lost to Alison Riske in three sets. 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

Cristian made her Grand Slam tournament debut in Melbourne, at the Australian Open where she won her first round match against Greet Minnen, before losing to Madison Keys. As a result, she reached a new career-high ranking of No. 58 on 31 January 2022.

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. Having won the first set, she retired in her second round match against Daria Kasatkina.

She returned after six months of hiatus to make her debut at the US Open where she lost to second seed Anett Kontaveit.

2023–2024: Wimbledon debut, WTA 1000 third rounds & top 10 win

Cristian made her Wimbledon debut at the 2023 Championships, defeating Lucia Bronzetti in the first round, before losing to 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.

In the end of January 2024, she entered the WTA 500 Ladies Linz as a lucky loser and defeated Nadia Podoroska.
At home in Cluj-Napoca, she reached the semifinals for the first time in her career at the tournament. It was her first tour semifinal since July 2023 in Prague.

At the Charleston Open, Cristian defeated three Americans - Sachia Vickery, eighth seed Madison Keys, and 10th seed Emma Navarro - to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost to fourth seed Daria Kasatkina.

She reached the third round at the WTA 1000 2024 Madrid Open by defeating Magdalena Fręch and 22nd seed Barbora Krejčíková, and moved up in the top 70 in the rankings. At the next WTA 1000, the Italian Open, she entered the main draw as a lucky loser replacing Barbora Krejčíková directly into the second round and defeated Elina Avanesyan to reach again the third round.

At the Palermo Ladies Open, Cristian defeated Lucia Bronzetti to make it through to the quarterfinals where she lost to top seed and eventual champion, Zheng Qinwen. The following week she also reached the quarterfinals at the Iași Open but went out to Elina Avanesyan.

In September 2024, at the WTA 1000 China Open, Cristian reached the third round for the third time at this level with her first career upset over a top 10 player, reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejčíková, in three sets saving four match points. She was eliminated from the tournament by another Czech player, Karolína Muchová.

The following month, Cristian defeated Camila Osorio in three sets to make it into the second round at the Wuhan Open, where she lost to fifth seed Zheng Qinwen. She then lost in qualifying for the Ningbo Open but was advanced into the last 16 as a lucky loser, only to be beaten by Karolina Muchová. Cristian then moved on to the Guangzhou Open, where she defeated Viktorija Golubic in three sets in the first round, but lost to Lucia Bronzetti in the round of 16.

2025: First major third round and WTA 125 title, Morocco final, top 50

Cristian started her 2025 season at the ASB Classic in Auckland, where she advanced to the second round after her opening opponent, Yuliia Starodubtseva, retired due to injury. She lost in the second round to top seed Madison Keys.

At the Australian Open, Cristian reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career, defeating lucky loser Petra Martić and Lucia Bronzetti. She lost her next match to lucky loser Eva Lys in three sets. At the same tournament, she also reached the second round in doubles with partner Camilla Rosatello.

Partnering Angelica Moratelli, she was runner-up in the doubles at the Transylvania Open in February, losing to Magali Kempen and Anna Sisková in the final.

In March, Cristian won the title at the WTA 125 Puerto Vallarta Open, defeating wildcard entrant Linda Fruhvirtová in the final.

At the Italian Open in May, she recorded wins over Alycia Parks and 23rd seed Yulia Putintseva to make it into the third round, where she lost to 13th seed Diana Shnaider. Later that month at the Morocco Open, Cristian reached the final by defeating wildcard entrant Yelyzaveta Kotliar, Aliona Bolsova another wildcard entrant, Anastasija Sevastova, and second seed Camila Osorio. She lost the championship match to Maya Joint in straight sets.

Cristian defeated Kimberly Birrell and qualifier Sára Bejlek to reach the third round at the French Open, at which point her run was ended by fifth seed and defending champion Iga Świątek.
Following Roland Garros, Cristian made her top 50 debut on 9 June, at world No. 49.

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 2025 Australian Open.''

Doubles

''Current through the 2023 Wimbledon Championships.''

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

WTA Challenger finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 20 (14 titles, 6 runner–ups)

Doubles: 20 (10 titles, 10 runner–ups)

Wins over top 10 players

* Cristian has a 1–6 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:Cristian, Jaqueline
Romanian female tennis players
1998 births
Living people
21st-century Romanian sportswomen
Tennis players from Bucharest
Tennis players at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players for Romania