Raluca Olaru


Ioana Raluca Olaru is a Romanian former professional tennis player. The winner of eleven singles and fifteen doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, Olaru reached one WTA Tour singles final, at the 2009 Gastein Ladies, losing to Andrea Petkovic, in straight sets. She also won eleven doubles titles on WTA Tour tournaments.
Olaru was a successful junior player. She was the runner–up in both junior singles and doubles at the 2005 French Open, and captured the 2006 US Open doubles title along with Mihaela Buzărnescu. Her best professional Grand Slam result has been the third round of the 2007 French Open, when she defeated the 30th seed Julia Vakulenko, in straight sets, and lost to eventual runner–up, the seventh seed Ana Ivanovic. Olaru reached her highest singles ranking, world No. 53, on 27 July 2009, and her best doubles ranking, No. 30, on 31 January 2022.
Olaru announced her retirement from tennis in June 2024.

Personal life

Ioana Raluca Olaru resides in her hometown Bucharest. Her parents, Adrian and Doina, run a convenience store together. Her sister Cristina is 16 years older than Olaru, and lives in London. Olaru began playing tennis aged seven, and cites Kim Clijsters, Martina Navratilova and Roger Federer as her role models. She graduated from school in 2007, and is fluent in English, Spanish and Romanian.

Tennis career

Raluca started her 2017 season at Shenzhen Open where she reached the final with Olga Savchuk, but they lost 1–6, 5–7 to Peng Shuai and Andrea Hlaváčková.
The following week, Olaru with Olga Savchuk won the doubles title at the Hobart International, it was her sixth WTA Tour doubles title.

Playing style

Olaru considers being a fighter as her biggest asset. She cites clay as her favourite surface and backhand down the line as favourite shot, but she can play well on all surfaces and she likes mixing her game with drop shots. Olaru is currently coached by Adrian Gavrila, Adrian Cruciat and Artemon Apostu Efremov.

Performance timelines

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

WTA Tour finals

Doubles: 24 (11 titles, 13 runner-ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1Jul 2008Budapest Grand Prix, HungaryTier IIIClay