Cristina Bucșa

Cristina Bucsa Bucsa (born 1 January 1998), known as Cristina Bucșa, is a professional tennis player. Born in Moldova, she has represented Spain since 2015. Bucșa has career-high rankings of No. 56 in singles, achieved on 15 January 2024, and of No. 19 in doubles, achieved on 10 June 2024.

Early life and background
Cristina Bucșa was born in Chișinău, Moldova. Her father, Ion Bucșa, is a former biathlete who was Moldova's flag bearer at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. When she was three years old, her family moved to Cantabria in northern Spain; they originally moved to Las Fraguas before settling in Torrelavega. Bucșa attended the Instituto Marqués De Santillana in Torrelavega, where she was awarded the title of Illustrious Alumna in December 2022. She speaks Spanish, Romanian, English, and French.

Bucșa began playing tennis at the age of five. In 2014, she moved to Barcelona to train at the Centre d'Alt Rendiment de Sant Cugat del Vallès, but in 2016 she moved back to Torrelavega where she currently lives and trains. She is coached by her father, who is self-taught and also acts as her physiotherapist. Being unsponsored, she buys her own kits and rackets for the tour. She does not have any public social media profiles, only using Facebook to keep in touch with other tennis players.

She received her Spanish passport in 2014 and began representing Spain in 2015.

2017–2020: ITF Circuit titles
Bucșa won her first ITF Circuit titles in both singles and doubles in 2017. In May 2017, Bucșa won an ITF title in Santarém, defeating Valeria Savinykh in the final. In November 2017, Bucșa and doubles partner Yana Sizikova won the Open de Valencia defeating Georgina García Pérez and Andrea Gámiz in the final.

Bucșa entered the qualifiers of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships and lost to Samantha Murray Sharan in the second round. One month later, she won the Open Araba en Femenino title in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

2021–2022: Grand Slam and WTA 1000 debuts
Bucșa entered the singles main draw of a major tournament for the first time in her career at the 2021 US Open, after defeating Kateryna Baindl, Elvina Kalieva, and Océane Dodin in qualifying.

In 2022, Bucșa qualified for the Australian Open and the French Open, but lost in the first round of both. She also qualified for her first WTA 1000 event at the Canadian Open. Bucșa recorded her first win at a major at the US Open defeating Kaja Juvan, before losing to 19th seed Danielle Collins.

2023: Top 100, major third round, WTA 250 doubles & 125 singles titles
Bucșa reached the top 100 on 16 January 2023. She qualified for the Australian Open and recorded her first two wins at this major, defeating Eva Lys and Bianca Andreescu. She then lost to world No. 1, Iga Świątek, in the third round. This was her best result at a Grand Slam tournament thus far. At the Lyon Open, she won her first doubles title with Bibiane Schoofs. As a result, she reached a new career-high doubles ranking of No. 61 on 6 February 2023. In Indian Wells, she reached the second round of a WTA 1000 for the first time in her career, defeating Katie Swan as a qualifier.

Bucșa made her main draw debut at Wimbledon, defeating Kamilla Rakhimova for her first win, before losing to fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula in the second round. She entered the main draw of the Canadian Open as a lucky loser, but lost to Petra Martić in the first round. She reached the second round on her debut at the Cincinnati Open, upsetting 13th seed Belinda Bencic. At the Guadalajara Open, she double bageled former top-ten player Kristina Mladenovic. In mid-December, she won her first WTA 125 title at the Open de Limoges, defeating Elsa Jacquemot in the final. She also won the doubles title in Limoges with partner Sizikova by defeating Oksana Kalashnikova and Maia Lumsden in the final.

2024: Top 60 in singles, maiden WTA 1000 title and top 20 in doubles
Bucșa began her season in Brisbane and reached the doubles semifinal with her partner Alexandra Panova. She qualified for Adelaide as a lucky loser in singles and defeated Jasmine Paolini, before losing to top seed Elena Rybakina in the second round. Following this, she reached a new career-high singles ranking of No. 56, on 15 January 2024. At the Australian Open, she reached the doubles quarterfinals with Panova. As a result, she reached the top 50 in doubles. Continuing her campaign on hardcourts, Bucșa participated in the Abu Dhabi Open where, as a lucky loser, she reached the quarterfinals and, once again, lost to top seed Elena Rybakina. In Doha, she and partner Monica Niculescu reached the doubles quarterfinal. Bucșa then made her debut at the Dubai Championships where she replaced, also as a lucky loser, fifth seed Ons Jabeur into the second round, before losing to eventual runner-up Anna Kalinskaya.

Seeded fourth in singles in Bogotá, Bucșa defeated You Xiaodi and Jule Niemeier, before losing to her doubles partner Kamilla Rakhimova in the quarterfinals. Bucșa and Rakhimova later won the doubles title in Bogotá defeating the third-seeded team of Anna Bondár and Irina Khromacheva in the final, bringing Bucșa to a career-high doubles ranking of No. 38, on 8 April 2024. In Madrid, Bucșa defeated Harriet Dart, before losing to tenth seed Daria Kasatkina in the second round. In doubles, seeded eighth, she and compatriot Sara Sorribes Tormo won the title after defeating Barbora Krejčíková and Laura Siegemund in the final, becoming the first all-Spanish doubles team to win the 1000 tournament in Madrid. This was her first WTA 1000 title and brought her to a career-high doubles ranking of No. 27 on 6 May 2024. The following month, Bucșa won her first WTA 500 doubles title in Strasbourg, partnering Niculescu and defeating Asia Muhammad and Aldila Sutjiadi in the final. En route to the title, Bucșa and Niculescu upset the second-seeded team of Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani in the semifinal.

Bucșa achieved her first French Open singles victory against qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva in the first round, before losing to Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the second. In doubles, she and Niculescu upset the 14th-seeded team of Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the second round. Following the pair's third-round run at the French Open, Bucșa achieved a career high doubles ranking of No. 19 and surpassed Sorribes Tormo as the top Spanish female doubles player on 10 June 2024.

Performance timelines
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup, United Cup, Hopman Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.

Singles
Current through the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.

Doubles
Current through the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.

Mixed doubles
Current through the 2024 French Open.

Record against top 10 players

 * She has a 0–6 record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.