{"id":86932,"date":"2025-07-15T11:19:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T15:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=86932"},"modified":"2025-07-15T11:19:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T15:19:26","slug":"top-100-without-a-qf-cristina-bucsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/07\/15\/top-100-without-a-qf-cristina-bucsa\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 100 Without a QF in the Last 52 Weeks: The Strange Case of Cristina Bucsa"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ranking system doesn\u2019t lie. If a player has a number next to their name, there\u2019s always a reason. Sure, luck can play a role–like with lucky losers–but overall, the rankings are highly meritocratic, and every tennis player builds their position based on what they achieve on the court. Some might disagree or see flaws in the system. In fact, last year there was a bit of controversy: why was Alexander Zverev ranked World No. 2 without a Grand Slam title, while Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> was World No. 3 after winning both the French Open<\/a> and Wimbledon<\/a>? The answer is simple: Zverev was more consistent–for example, he reached the quarterfinals in all nine Masters 1000 events.<\/p>\n

Bucsa\u2019s Anomaly<\/h2>\n

Speaking of quarterfinals, there\u2019s a surprising stat on the WTA Tour<\/a>. One of the players ranked inside the Top 100 hasn\u2019t reached a single quarterfinal in the past 52 weeks. Her name is Cristina Bucsa, a Moldovan-born Spanish player who\u2019s currently ranked No. 93 with 773 points. Not only has she not won a title–she hasn\u2019t even reached a final, a semifinal, or a quarterfinal. So how is she among the 100 best players in the world? Let\u2019s take a closer look.<\/p>\n

But first, let\u2019s consider the rest of the Top 100. Besides Bucsa, there are eight other players who haven\u2019t reached a single semifinal over the last 52 weeks (Marta Kostyuk, Hailey Baptiste, Ons Jabeur, Moyuka Uchijima, Yulia Starodubtseva, Maria Sakkari, Victoria Azarenka, and Taylor Townsend). However, they have all reached at least one quarterfinal. Bucsa hasn\u2019t–and that\u2019s what makes her presence in the Top 100 so unique. For the record, her last quarterfinal appearance was in Bogot\u00e1<\/a> in April 2024.<\/p>\n

Exploits and Consistency<\/h3>\n

Bucsa won three main-draw matches in a row just once over the past year. It happened last fall at the China Open in Beijing. She defeated local wild card Xinxin Yao in the first round, then upset two top players–Liudmila Samsonova (Top 15 at the time) and Elise Mertens (top 30) \u2014 earning 120 points, which account for the bulk of her total. Another key source of her points came at the Qatar Open in Doha, where she qualified for the main draw and beat another Top 20 player, Russia\u2019s Anna Kalinskaya.<\/p>\n

Despite winning relatively few matches, she made the most of the right ones. For instance, she reached the second round at the Australian Open and, more recently, the third round at Wimbledon, collecting a combined 200 points. Add to that the 90 points she earned in Austin and Nottingham (48+42)–where she reached the second round–and you start to understand what keeps her inside the Top 100.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>