Maria Sara Popa

Maria Sara Popa (born 29 July 2005)^[1] is a Romanian tennis player. She reached No. 1 in the Tennis Europe U14 rankings,^[2][3] in May 2019 and has a career high of No. 9 in the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour rankings,^[4] achieved in April 2022.

Maria Sara Popa

Popa at the 2025 Transylvania Open
Country (sports)	Romania
Residence	Bucharest, Romania
Born	(2005-07-29) 29 July 2005 (age 20) Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Plays	Left-handed (double-handed backhand)
Coach	Ioan Raul Popa
Prize money	US$53,602
Singles
Career record	120–97
Career titles	2 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 395 (29 July 2024)
Current ranking	No. 441 (9 December 2024)
Doubles
Career record	16–25
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 938 (22 May 2023)
Current ranking	No. 1,274 (9 December 2024)
Last updated on: 9 December 2024.

Popa, who began playing at the age of 4, has a career-high singles ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) of 395.^[5] She is one of only six women who played three ITF singles finals^[6][7][8] in 2023, at such a young age,^[9] winning one of them and is among the world's youngest 20 players in WTA's Top 600.^[10] Of all the players from her country, Popa holds the record of being the youngest Romanian with an ITF Women's singles final in the last six years^[11] and the only one to have reached No. 1 in the Tennis Europe U14 rankings since 2013.^[12] She is coached by her father, Ioan Raul Popa.^[5]

The best result she's had in big tournaments so far was in a WTA 125 held in her hometown. She was awarded a wild card in the qualifying draw of the 2023 Țiriac Foundation Trophy, based on her results from the local ITFs.^[13] She won three matches, before losing to Sara Errani in the round of 16.^[14]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Legend W25/35 tournaments (1–0) W15 tournaments (1–2)

Finals by surface Clay (2–2)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2023	ITF Antalya, Turkey	W15	Clay	Natalia Siedliska	3–6, 2–6
Loss	0–2	Jul 2023	ITF Bacău, Romania	W15	Clay	Amelie Van Impe	2–6, 1–6
Win	1–2	Aug 2023	ITF Brașov, Romania	W15	Clay	Selma Cadâr	5–7, 6–2, 7–5
Win	2–2	Jan 2024	ITF Buenos Aires, Argentina	W35	Clay	Ylena In-Albon	6–2, 6–0

ITF junior finals

Legend
Category GA
Category G1
Category G2
Category G3
Category G4
Category G5

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner–up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Grade	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 2020	ITF Oradea, Romania	G4	Clay	Cara Meșter	4–6, 7–6(7-0), 5–7
Win	1–1	Jan 2021	ITF Antalya, Turkey	G3	Clay	Melis Uyar	6–3, 6–2

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner–up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Grade	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Sep 2020	ITF Constanța, Romania	G5	Clay	Vanessa Popa Teiușanu	Anca Todoni Floriana Popovici	7–5, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Sep 2020	ITF Oradea, Romania	G4	Clay	Vanessa Popa Teiușanu	Ștefania Bojică Cara Meșter	0–6, 1–6

Tennis Europe finals and summary

Popa won five out of the nine singles finals she played on this circuit and two out of the eight she played in doubles.^[15] The last title she won in May 2019 was also the title which helped her achieve the No. 1 position in the U14 age category.^[3]

Overall singles record: 124-46 (72.9%)

Overall doubles record: 47-27 (63.5%)

UTR Pro Tennis Tour finals and summary

The Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) Pro Tennis Tour is an alternative to the WTA and ITF tours. Popa reached the final in both tournaments that she played. She lost the first one to Ioana Gaspar in May 2022^[16] and the second one to Alisa Baranovska in June 2023.^[17]

Overall record: 8-4 (66.7%), including group stage matches.