| Country (sports) |  Romania |
|---|---|
| Residence | Bucharest, Romania |
| Born | 29 July 2005 Bucharest, Romania |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Plays | Left-handed (double-handed backhand) |
| Coach | Ioan Raul Popa |
| Prize money | US$41,025 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 118–95 |
| Career titles | 2 ITF |
| Highest ranking | No. 395 (29 July 2024) |
| Current ranking | No. 436 (11 November 2024) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 16–25 |
| Career titles | 0 |
| Highest ranking | No. 938 (22 May 2023) |
| Current ranking | No. 1184 (11 November 2024) |
| Last updated on: 11 November 2024. | |
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.
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.
- ^ "Popa's birth date". on Petits As.
- ^ "Tennis Europe - Popa's U14 Ranking". at www.tenniseurope.org.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "ITF Women's World Tennis Tour - Popa's Ranking". by the International Tennis Federation.
- ^ a b "WTA Official Profile of Maria Sara Popa". at www.wtatennis.com.
- ^ "W15 Antalya tournament Draw (ITF Women's World Tennis Tour)". at www.itftennis.com. 2023-05-14.
- ^ "W15 Bacău tournament Draw (ITF Women's World Tennis Tour)". at www.itftennis.com. 2023-07-16.
- ^ "W15 Brașov tournament Draw (ITF Women's World Tennis Tour)". at www.itftennis.com. 2023-08-26.
- ^ Șerban, Teodor (2023-08-27). "The first ITF title! Maria Sara Popa's extraordinary achievements in 2023, having played three finals at barely 18 years of age". on Ziare.com (in Romanian).
- ^ "Open Era Live Rankings - Youngest 20 players ranked in WTA's Top 600". at www.openerarankings.com.
- ^ Kiarash, Amir (2023-05-16). "A rare result for Romanian tennis: Maria Sara Popa is the 1st to achieve it, after 6 years". on Adevărul (in Romanian).
- ^ "Career's result for Maria Sara Popa: what a performance the tennis player has achieved". by Ziare.com (in Romanian). 2022-10-30.
- ^ "Turneul carierei: Maria Sara Popa, lăudată de o finalistă de Roland Garros pentru evoluția de la WTA 125 București". by Redacția Adevărul (in Romanian). 2023-09-15.