Mihaela Buzărnescu

Junior success

Buzărnescu played her first professional match in 2004.^[2] She then won the junior doubles title at the 2006 US Open with Ioana Raluca Olaru. Seeded No. 2, they defeated the top-seeded pair of Sharon Fichman and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final.^[3]

Injuries and hiatus

Shoulder and knee injuries (the latter prompting two surgeries) forced her off the pro tour for years, long enough that she went back to school,^[4] graduating a doctorate at the National Academy of Physical Education and Sport in December 2016.

Entry into top 100 and first WTA final

In October 2017, Buzărnescu got to the semifinals of the 2017 Linz Open. In 2018, she reached two WTA finals in Hobart and Prague.

2018 season: first WTA titles

The Romanian reached the final in Hobart and Praha.

At the Internationaux de Strasbourg, Buzărnescu surrendered a lead in the singles semifinals against Slovak Dominika Cibulková, eventually losing the match in three sets.^[5] She showed more consistency in the doubles, winning the tournament (her first WTA title) with compatriot Raluca Olaru in straight sets against Nadiia Kichenok and Anastasia Rodionova.^[6]

Buzărnescu then played her first French Open, which was also the first Grand Slam tournament she was seeded. She defeated Vania King in the first round for her first Grand Slam win. Afterwards she also won versus Rebecca Peterson. Against No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina in the third round, Buzărnescu won the match in straight sets. This was Buzărnescu's biggest career victory and one of the tournament's bigger upsets. She faced No. 13 seed Madison Keys in the fourth round where she lost in two sets.

As the 2018 grass court season began, Buzărnescu reached the quarterfinal of the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham, losing to Naomi Osaka. She also played in the doubles tournament with British partner Heather Watson losing in the final. At the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham, she once again defeated No. 2 seed Elina Svitolina before losing to eventual champion Petra Kvitova in the semi-finals.

Buzărnescu then played for a third consecutive week in Eastbourne. She reached the last 16 before losing to Jelena Ostapenko. However, she reached the doubles final with partner Irina Begu.

On August 5th, 2018 Buzărnescu captured her first WTA singles title winning in San Jose with a 6-1 6-0 victory over Maria Sakkari in the final.

Doubles: 1 (1 titles)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	2006	US Open	Hard	Raluca Olaru	Sharon Fichman Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	7–5, 6–2

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Jan 2018	Hobart International, Australia	International	Hard	Elise Mertens	1–6, 6–4, 3–6
Loss	0–2	May 2018	Prague Open, Czech Republic	International	Clay	Petra Kvitová	6–4, 2–6, 3–6
Win	1–2	Jul 2018	Bank of the West Classic, United States	Premier	Hard	Maria Sakkari	6–1, 6–0

Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runners-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2018	Prague Open, Czech Republic	International	Clay	Lidziya Marozava	Nicole Melichar Květa Peschke	4–6, 2–6
Win	1–1	May 2018	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	International	Clay	Raluca Olaru	Nadiia Kichenok Anastasia Rodionova	7–5, 7–5
Loss	1–2	June 2018	Nottingham Open, United Kingdom	International	Grass	Heather Watson	Alicja Rosolska Abigail Spears	3–6, 6–7(5–7)
Loss	1–3	June 2018	Eastbourne International, United Kingdom	Premier	Grass	Irina-Camelia Begu	Gabriela Dabrowski Xu Yifan	3–6, 5–7

Singles (22–7)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	13 June 2004	Piteşti, Romania	Clay	Liana Balaci	6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Winner	2.	20 June 2004	Brașov, Romania	Clay	Andrea Benítez	6–3, 7–5
Winner	3.	28 May 2006	La Palma, Spain	Hard	Nadja Pavić	6–3, 6–7(4–7), 6–3
Runner-up	1.	13 May 2007	Rabat, Morocco	Clay	Yuliya Kalabina	1–6, 1–6
Winner	4.	8 June 2008	Piteşti, Romania	Clay	Pálma Király	6–0, 6–3
Winner	5.	22 June 2008	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Federica Di Sarra	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	28 March 2010	Antalya, Turkey	Clay	Valentyna Ivakhnenko	3–6, 0–6
Winner	6.	15 August 2010	Oneşti, Romania	Clay	Ionela-Andreea Iova	6–0, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	22 August 2010	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Ingrid-Alexandra Radu	5–7, 6–1, 3–6
Winner	7.	29 August 2010	Balş, Romania	Clay	Alexandra Cadanţu	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	4.	11 December 2010	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Marta Sirotkina	0–6, 0–6
Winner	8.	21 May 2011	İzmir, Turkey	Hard	Naomi Broady	7–5, 6–4
Winner	9.	10 July 2011	Craiova, Romania	Clay	Annalisa Bona	6–2, 3–6, 6–4
Winner	10.	17 July 2011	Zwevegem, Belgium	Clay	Bibiane Schoofs	3–6, 6–2, 6–4
Winner	11.	13 September 2014	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Simona Ionescu	6–3, 2–6, 6–1
Winner	12.	30 March 2015	Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia	Hard	Lou Brouleau	6–0, 6–1
Winner	13.	6 April 2015	Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia	Hard	Natalija Sipek	6–1, 6–0
Winner	14.	16 August 2015	Westende, Belgium	Hard	Océane Dodin	6−1, 6–1
Runner-up	5.	22 November 2015	Zawada, Poland	Carpet (i)	Ivana Jorović	2–6, 2–6
Winner	15.	12 December 2015	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Valentyna Ivakhnenko	6–0, 6–3
Winner	16.	18 June 2017	Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary	Clay	Danka Kovinić	6–2, 6–1
Winner	17.	24 June 2017	İzmir, Turkey	Hard	Eri Hozumi	6–1, 6–0
Winner	18.	9 July 2017	Getxo, Spain	Clay	Renata Zarazúa	6–2, 6–2
Winner	19.	16 July 2017	Versmold, Germany	Clay	Barbara Haas	6–0, 6–2
Runner-up	6.	5 August 2017	Woking, United Kingdom	Hard	Jasmine Paolini	4–6, 6–1, 4–6
Winner	20.	17 September 2017	Biarritz, France	Clay	Patty Schnyder	6–4, 6–3
Winner	21.	29 October 2017	Poitiers, France	Hard (i)	Alison Van Uytvanck	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	7.	11 November 2017	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Zhang Shuai	4–6, 0–6
Winner	22.	19 November 2017	Toyota, Japan	Carpet (i)	Tamara Zidanšek	6–0, 6–1

Doubles (34–22)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winners	1.	6 June 2004	Constanţa, Romania	Clay	Gabriela Niculescu	Bianca Bonifate Diana Gae	6–4, 6–3
Winners	2.	13 June 2004	Piteşti, Romania	Clay	Gabriela Niculescu	Andrea Benítez Estefania Craciún	6–4, 6–4
Runners-up	1.	9 April 2005	Mumbai, India	Hard	Sanaa Bhambri	Chan Chin-wei Julia Efremova	2–6, 1–6
Runners-up	2.	7 July 2006	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Magda Mihalache	Erica Krauth Aurélie Védy	6–2, 4–6, 4–6
Runners-up	3.	25 August 2006	Moscow, Russia	Clay	Evgeniya Rodina	Maria Kondratieva Ekaterina Makarova	6–4, 4–6, 1–6
Runners-up	4.	13 April 2007	Split, Croatia	Clay	Antonia Xenia Tout	Olga Brózda Natalia Kołat	2–6, 1–6
Winners	3.	20 April 2007	Hvar, Croatia	Clay	Magdalena Kiszczyńska	Émilie Bacquet Karolina Jovanović	6–4, 6–2
Runners-up	5.	27 April 2007	Bol, Croatia	Clay	Nadja Roma	Iveta Gerlová Lucie Kriegsmannová	3–6, 5–7
Winners	4.	11 May 2007	Rabat, Morocco	Clay	Melanie Klaffner	Silvia Disderi Samia Medjahdi	6–1, 6–4
Runners-up	6.	3 August 2007	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Monica Niculescu	Sorana Cîrstea Ágnes Szatmári	W/O
Runners-up	7.	18 August 2007	Penza, Russia	Clay	Veronika Kapshay	Sophie Lefèvre Ágnes Szatmári	1–6, 2–6
Winners	5.	12 September 2007	Sofia, Bulgaria	Clay	Magdalena Kiszczyńska	Joana Cortez Teliana Pereira	6–4, 6–7(2–7), [10–4]
Winners	6.	30 September 2007	Batumi, Georgia	Hard	Vojislava Lukić	Vasilisa Davydova Marina Shamayko	6–2, 6–4
Winners	7.	8 June 2008	Piteşti, Romania	Clay	Laura-Ioana Andrei	Simona Matei Valentina Sulpizio	7–5, 3–6, [10–2]
Winners	8.	22 June 2008	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Laura-Ioana Andrei	Benedetta Davato Valentina Sulpizio	6–4, 4–6, [10–6]
Runners-up	8.	5 July 2008	Toruń, Poland	Clay	Anastasia Pivovarova	Olga Brózda Magdalena Kiszczyńska	6–4, 4–6, [2–10]
Winners	9.	25 July 2008	Kharkiv, Ukraine	Clay	Oksana Kalashnikova	Kristina Antoniychuk Lesia Tsurenko	6–1, 6–4
Winners	10.	12 June 2009	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Elora Dabija	Laura-Ioana Andrei Ioana Gaspar	1–6, 7–5, [10–5]
Winners	11.	10 October 2009	Belek, Turkey	Clay	Kateřina Vaňková	Magali de Lattre Fatima El Allami	6–1, 6–1
Winners	12.	15 November 2009	Le Havre, France	Clay	Marina Melnikova	Amandine Hesse Alizé Lim	6–2, 7–6(7–4)
Winners	13.	22 November 2009	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Laura Thorpe	Fatma Al-Nabhani Galina Fokina	6–4, 6–0
Runners-up	9.	28 March 2010	Antalya, Turkey	Clay	Alenka Hubacek	Yuliya Beygelzimer Anna Gerasimou	W/O
Winners	14.	4 April 2010	Antalya, Turkey	Clay	Dalia Zafirova	Veronika Chvojková Martina Kubičíková	7–6(7–1), 7–5
Winners	15.	30 April 2010	Vic, Spain	Clay	Cristina Stancu	Olga Brózda Barbara Sobaszkiewicz	7–5, 3–6, [10–7]
Winners	16.	13 August 2010	Oneşti, Romania	Clay	Laura-Ioana Andrei	Camelia Hristea Biljana Pavlova	7–6(9–7), 6–2
Winners	17.	20 August 2010	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Laura-Ioana Andrei	Diana Enache Camelia Hristea	6–1, 6–3
Winners	18.	18 September 2010	Podgorica, Montenegro	Clay	Irina-Camelia Begu	Valeria Solovieva Maryna Zanevska	5–7, 7–5, [12–10]
Runners-up	10.	16 October 2010	Kharkiv, Ukraine	Clay	Marina Shamayko	Anna Piven Anastasiya Vasylyeva	4–6, 4–6
Winners	19.	7 May 2011	Wiesbaden, Germany	Clay	Karolina Wlodarczak	Dejana Raickovic Ghislaine van Baal	6–7(4–7), 6–3, [10–6]
Runners-up	11.	21 May 2011	İzmir, Turkey	Hard	Tereza Mrdeža	Naomi Broady Lisa Whybourn	6–3, 6–7(4–7), [7–10]
Winners	20.	3 June 2011	Florence, Italy	Clay	Zuzana Zlochová	Nicole Clerico Valentina Sulpizio	6–3, 6–4
Runners-up	12.	8 July 2011	Craiova, Romania	Clay	Elena Bogdan	Diana Enache Daniëlle Harmsen	6–4, 6–7(5–7), [6–10]
Winners	21.	22 July 2011	Samsun, Turkey	Hard	Tadeja Majerič	Çağla Büyükakçay Pemra Özgen	6–1, 6–4
Winners	22.	10 September 2011	Saransk, Russia	Clay	Teodora Mirčić	Eva Hrdinová Veronika Kapshay	6–3, 6–1
Runners-up	13.	16 September 2011	Zagreb, Croatia	Clay	Maria Abramović	Maria João Koehler Katalin Marosi	0–6, 3–6
Winners	23.	1 October 2011	Telavi, Georgia	Clay	Elena Bogdan	Ekaterine Gorgodze Anastasia Grymalska	1–6, 6–1, [10–3]
Runners-up	14.	19 February 2012	Surprise, United States	Hard	Valeria Solovieva	Maria Sanchez Yasmin Schnack	4–6, 3–6
Winners	24.	9 July 2012	Zwevegem, Belgium	Clay	Nicola Geuer	Kim Kilsdonk Nicolette van Uitert	7–6(7–5), 1–6, [10–4]
Winners	25.	13 September 2012	Mont-de-Marsan, France	Clay	Timea Bacsinszky	Teliana Pereira Aleksandrina Naydenova	6-4, 6-1
Runners-up	15.	30 March 2015	Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia	Hard	Olena Kyrpot	Inês Murta Melanie Stokke	1–6, 5–7
Winners	26.	30 March 2015	Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia	Hard	Olena Kyrpot	Jennifer Claffey Kathinka von Deichmann	6–4, 6–2
Winners	27.	20 April 2015	Pula, Italy	Clay	Irina Maria Bara	Corinna Dentoni Claudia Giovine	6-3, 2-6, [10-4]
Winners	28.	26 October 2015	Saguenay, Canada	Hard (i)	Justyna Jegiołka	Sharon Fichman Maria Sanchez	7–6(8–6), 4–6, [10–7]
Winners	29.	16 November 2015	Zawada, Poland	Carpet (i)	Justyna Jegiołka	Kim Grajdek Ekaterina Yashina	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	16.	3 September 2016	Mamaia, Romania	Clay	Irina Maria Bara	Vivien Juhászová Kateřina Kramperová	6–7(3–7), 6–2, [7–10]
Runner-up	17.	16 September 2016	Bucha, Ukraine	Clay	Alexandra Perper	Valentyna Ivakhnenko Anastasiya Komardina	3–6, 1–6
Winners	30.	23 October 2016	Saguenay, Canada	Hard (i)	Elena Bogdan	Bianca Andreescu Charlotte Robillard-Millette	6–4, 6–7(4–7), [10–6]
Winners	31.	29 October 2016	Tampico, Mexico	Hard	Elise Mertens	Usue Maitane Arconada Katie Swan	6–0, 6–2
Runner-up	18.	13 November 2016	Waco, United States	Hard	Renata Zarazúa	Michaëlla Krajicek Taylor Townsend	Walkover
Winner	32.	13 May 2017	Dunakeszi, Hungary	Clay	Irina Maria Bara	Daiana Negreanu Oana Georgeta Simion	1–6, 6–1, [10–3]
Runner-up	19.	29 July 2017	Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Alona Fomina	Anastasia Potapova Dayana Yastremska	2-6 2-6
Runner-up	20.	6 August 2017	Woking, United Kingdom	Hard	Justyna Jegiołka	Laura-Ioana Andrei Petra Krejsová	6–4, 2–6, [9–11]
Winner	33.	17 September 2017	Biarritz, France	Clay	Irina Maria Bara	Cristina Bucșa Isabelle Wallace	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	21.	24 September 2017	Saint Malo, France	Clay	Irina Maria Bara	Diāna Marcinkēviča Daniela Seguel	3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	22.	28 October 2017	Poitiers, France	Hard (i)	Nicola Geuer	Belinda Bencic Yanina Wickmayer	6–7(7–9), 3–6
Winner	34.	15 December 2017	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Alena Fomina	Lesley Kerkhove Lidziya Marozava	6–4, 6–3