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.
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: Rise up the rankings, 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: Grand Slam singles debut at Wimbledon, first WTA Tour doubles final
2021: Maiden WTA Tour title, WTA 1000 & top 100 debuts, US Open quarterfinal in doubles
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.[1] 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.[2]
She made her US Open debut as a qualifier, but lost in the first round to Markéta Vondroušová.[3] 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.[4]
2022: Major debuts at Australian & French Opens, 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: Australian Open doubles semifinal, first singles final since 2021
She qualified for her only Major of the season, in singles at the US Open.[5] 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.[6]
2024: Major singles third round & doubles semifinal, top 10 win & back to top 100 in singles
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.[8]
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.[9][10] She lost to 26th seed Paula Badosa in the third round, after a deciding set tiebreak.[11] She returned to the top 100 in the singles rankings at world No. 93 on 23 September 2024.[citation needed]
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
^ abEdition is split into the two years due to COVID-19.
^ abThe first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.
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