Raluca Sandu

Raluca Sandu (born 3 February 1980) is a Romanian former tennis player and professional padel player.^[1]

Raluca Sandu

Country (sports)	Romania
Residence	Monaco, Monaco
Born	(1980-02-03) 3 February 1980 (age 45) Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	1994
Retired	2004
Plays	Right-handed
Prize money	$157,333
Singles
Career record	187–154
Career titles	4 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 68 (18 January 1999)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (1999)
French Open	3R (1999)
US Open	2R (1998)
Doubles
Career record	32–59
Career titles	1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 228 (13 September 1999)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open	1R (1999)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	7–9

On 18 January 1999, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of 68 whilst her best doubles ranking was 228 on 13 September 1999.

Raluca turned pro at the age of 15 and reached WTA top 100 by the time she was 17 years old. She was also ranked top 10 in the world ITF juniors ranking, reaching the semifinals at the 1995 US Open. Raluca was forced to retire early due to shoulder injury (2004).^[2]

Personal

Raluca is the daughter of former Romanian football player and former president of the Romanian Football Federation, Mircea Sandu and her late mother, Simona Arghir former handball player and captain of Romanian national handball team.^[3][4][5][6] Raluca has one more sibling, older brother Dan Mircea.^[7][8] In her youth, she was dating former world No. 1, Carlos Moya, for two years.

ITF Circuit finals

Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles (4–7)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	24 April 1995	Bari, Italy	Clay	Stefania Pifferi	6–2, 6–4
Loss	2.	7 August 1995	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Gülberk Gültekin	3–6, 1–6
Win	3.	18 September 1995	Cluj-Napoca, Romania	Clay	Katalin Marosi	6–3, 6–3
Win	4.	10 February 1996	Sunderland, UK	Hard	Samantha Smith	4–6, 7–5, 6–4
Loss	5.	21 July 1996	Darmstadt, Germany	Clay	Julia Abe	2–6, 3–6
Loss	6.	17 November 1996	Bad Gögging, Germany	Carpet (i)	Nirupama Vaidyanathan	4–6, 1–6
Loss	7.	2 March 1997	Bushey, UK	Carpet (i)	Olga Barabanschikova	1–6, 6–7
Loss	8.	20 July 1997	Darmstadt, Germany	Clay	Pavlina Stoyanova	4–6, 1–6
Loss	9.	12 April 1998	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Barbara Schwartz	2–6, 3–6
Win	10.	26 July 1998	Valladolid, Spain	Hard	Rita Kuti-Kis	6–3, 6–3
Loss	11.	24 June 2001	Gorizia, Italy	Clay	Eva Bes-Ostáriz	0–6, 6–1, 3–6

Doubles (1–2)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	7 August 1995	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Alice Pirsu	Gülberk Gültekin Selin Nassi Tekikbas	2–6, 2–6
Win	2.	20 June 1999	Marseille, France	Clay	Gisela Riera	Eva Martincová Lenka Němečková	6–4, 7–6
Loss	3.	1 August 1999	Bytom, Poland	Clay	Gisela Riera	Eva Bes-Ostáriz Magdalena Grzybowska	4–6, 5–7

Head-to-head records

Players who have been ranked world No. 1 are in boldface.

• Magdalena Maleeva 1-0
• Anna Kournikova 1-1
• Elena Dementieva 1-0
• Amélie Mauresmo 1–0
• Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-0
• Patty Schnyder 0–1
• Serena Williams 0–1
• Conchita Martínez Granados 1-0
• Jelena Kostanić 0–1
• Elena Vesnina 1–0