Born on May 30, 1989 to a pilot and an airline coordinator in Bucharest, Romania, Alexandra Dulgheru began first playing tennis when she was 4 years old. She competed in Girl’s Wimbledon during her teenage years, where she played both singles and doubles, but was ultimately defeated by Tamira Paszek, and a pairing consisting of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Alisa Kleybanova, respectively.
Later, in 2009, she was runner up in a tournament and won a $75,000 prize, only to win another tournament two weeks later that yielded her another $25,000. That same year, she competed in the Warsaw Open, and there she won her first WTA title.
Unfortunately, Dulgheru lost the first round of the ECM Prague Open (to Carla Suarez Navarro). Her luck ran in a similar direction in the Nürnberger Gastein Ladies tournament, where she also lost the first round, but this time to Victoria AzarenkaRomanian. Though she advanced up to the second round at the Linz Open, she again lost in the first round at the Luxembourg Open.
In spite of all the ups and downs, she came to rank in 2009 as WTA No. 52. For Romanian women’s tennis, she ranked No. 2.
During 2010, she was able to compete in the Australian Open, though she lost the first round in both her singles and doubles events. She reached the semifinals in the Barcelona Ladies Open, though she lost to Roberta Vinci from Italy. That same year, however, at the 2010 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, she defeated Dinara Safina, though she lost to Nadia Petrova in the third round. At the 2010 Madrid Masters tournament, she won against Elena Dementieva, but lost to Lucie Šafářová in the third round. Later in 2010, she successfully defended her title at the Warsaw Open.
In the 2010 French Open, she advanced to the third round, but lost to Caroline Wozniacki. She made it to the semi-finals in the UNICEF Open, and was ultimately defeated by Justine Henin. After entering the 2010 Wimbledon Championships for the first time, she made it to the third round in singles, losing to Kaia Kanepi from Estonia in two sets. Teaming up with Alberta Brianti for doubles, she lost the first round. In mixed doubles, she formed a pair with David Marrero, where they advanced to the second round, but lost to Paul Hanley and Chan Yung-jan. During the 2010 GDF SUEZ Grand Prix, she was defeated in the semifinals.
At the 2010 Prague Open, she won her first round, but soon found that she had injured her knee, and had to take a sabbatical from tennis that lasted a month. In the Cincinnati Masters, she was defeated in the first round. Still affected by her injury, she was defeated in the first round again that year in both the Canadian Masters and the New Haven tournament.
She entered the US Open for the first time in 2010, both in singles and doubles. She made it to the third round of both events, but was ultimately defeated. By the end of 2010, she had broken into the top 30, and was No. 29 in WTA ranking, No. 1 in Romanian women’s tennis.
When the beginning of 2011 rolled around, Dulgheru lost her first two early tournaments of the year on the first round, both Brisbane International and Medibank International Sydney. Similarly, she lost the first round later in the Australian Open and the Qatar Ladies Open. She lasted to the second round at Indian Wells, but lost to Lucie Hradecká. She did well in the Miami Open, going on to the quarterfinals and having a 3.5 hour match with Maria Sharapova. She was ultimately defeated by Sharapova, but not without an impressive effort.
Alexandra Dulgheru ranked No. 26, what would be her highest rank, in 2011, until the US Open, where she lost in the second round.
In 2012, Dulgheru competed in the 2012 ASB Classic, though she lost during the first round. In the 2012 Apia International Sydney tournament, she was at first defeated on her second qualifying match, but was able to qualify anyway as Lucky Loser, ultimately going on to face defeat in the second round.
Later, Alexandra Dulgheru lost her first round in the Australian Open that year. As a highlight that year, she managed to win a title at the 2012 Copa Bionaire, but unfortunately continued to lose consistently in her first round at the 2012 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas, the 2012 Monterrey Open, and the 2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel. She suffered another knee injury at the 2012 Indian Wells Masters and could not complete the second set of her first round.
This time, she withdrew from tennis for nearly the rest of the year, returning in November to play some ITF tournaments, but she did not fare very well, and her ranking dropped to a low of No. 223.
Dulgheru managed to make something of a comeback in 2013, when she won two ITF tournaments, then went on to compete in the 2013 Indian Wells Masters, where she lost in the second round. In the Miami Open shortly after, she lost the opening round. In the 2013 Madrid Open, she also lost her first round, and at the 2013 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, she injured her toe and had to withdraw during the first round.
Later, at the 2013 Swedish Open, she lost her second round, then went on to lose her first round at the 2013 Rogers Cup. In the 2013 Western and Southern Open, Alexandra Dulgheru did not get past the qualifying rounds.
That year at the US Open, she won the first round, but lost in the second to Ana Ivanovic. In the 2013 Korea Open, she fared the same, winning the first round and losing the second. She ended the year ranking No. 164.
During 2014, she won several ITF tournaments, which allowed her to break back into the top 100 at No. 83 by the end of that year. In 2015, though she lost the Shenzhen Open and failed to qualify for the 2015 Apia International Sydney or the 2015 Dubai Tennis Championships, she made it to the second round in the 2015 Qatar Total Open, until she had to withdraw due to an infection.
After recovering from her brief illness, she competed in the 2015 Malaysian Open, where Dulgheru made it to the finals, but lost to Caroline Wozniacki. Later, she lost in the first round at the Miami Open and at the 2015 Family Circle Cup. At the 2015 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, she did well, but lost in the quarter finals.
Her rank rose steadily during that year, and currently she is ranked at No. 54 in the WTA rankings.