Sesil Karatantcheva
| Country |  Bulgaria |
|
| Residence | Sofia, Bulgaria and Sarasota, Florida, U.S. |
|
| Date of birth | August 08 1989 | |
| Place of birth | Sofia, Bulgaria | |
| Height | 5' 7 1/2" (1.71 m) | |
| Weight | 140 lbs. (63.5 kg) | |
| Turned Pro | n/a | |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) | |
| Career Prize Money | $338,156 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 78-24 | |
| Career titles: | 0 WTA, 4 ITF | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 35 (November 7, 2005) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | 1r (2005) | |
| French Open | QF (2005) | |
| Wimbledon | 2r (2005) | |
| U.S. Open | 2r (2005) | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 0-5 | |
| Career titles: | 0 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 888 (November 7, 2005) | |
|
Infobox last updated on: 2007. |
||
Sesil Karatantcheva (Bulgarian: Сесил Каратанчева, pronounced: seh-SEEL ka-rah-TAN-cheh-vuh; born August 8, 1989) is a Bulgarian professional female tennis player. She was born in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
Tennis career
2003
Karatantcheva played her first professional tournament in September 2003 in Sofia, Bulgaria at the age of 14. As an unranked qualifier the next week, she defeated the #1, #2, and #3 seeds en route to her first professional tournament title at a small ITF tournament in Volos, Greece. Karatantcheva went on to win two other ITF titles in 2003.
2004
In 2004, Karatantcheva began her season at a large WTA tournament Indian Wells, California,
where she defeated American Alexandra Stevenson in the first round, and upset the
17th seed Magui Serna in the second round. In an interview prior to her match against 16th
seed Maria Sharapova, Karatantcheva claimed that Sharapova had skipped a hitting session
with her a few weeks earlier in Florida, and began a war of words with the Russian. Sharapova then defeated Karatantcheva in
three sets in the third round. Because of her age, Karatantcheva was restricted in the number of tournaments she was able to
play. In August, she reached the quarterfinals of a WTA tournament in
2005
2005 was Karatantcheva's breakthrough year. She started off the year at a tournament in Gold Coast, Australia by qualifying, and then defeating the tournament's #1 seed Elena Likhovtseva before falling in the quarterfinals. She then qualified for the Australian Open, before losing to the #4 seed Sharapova in the first round. Her most successful tournament to date was at Roland Garros. Karatantcheva defeated the #19 seed Shinobu Asagoe in the second round, and then stunned the world with her victory over the #11 seed and former world number one Venus Williams in the third round. After defeating Emanuelle Gagliardi in the fourth round, she fell to Likhovtseva in the quarterfinals. Karatantcheva became the youngest female to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament since Martina Hingis in 1996.
On December 20, 2005, the French sports newspaper L'Equipe reported that Karatantcheva had failed a drug test earlier in the year at Roland Garros, and that she had appeared in front of a three-person panel of judges to explain the results. The newspaper claims that Karatantcheva said she was pregnant at the time of the test, which would explain the high levels of nandrolone in her system. Karatantcheva has denied all allegations, saying "I am shocked. I have not appeared before judges of the international federation."
2006
On January 11, 2006, the ITF issued a two-year ban after two positive drug tests for nandrolone. While Karatantcheva has claimed she was pregnant at the time of one of the tests, another laboratory carried out a pregnancy test on her urine sample, and it tested negative. On July 3, 2006 the Court of Arbitration for Sport denied her appeal to overturn the ban with the argument that said nandrolone was found in concentrations which were inconsistent with the normal levels for that stage of pregnancy.[1]
Karatantcheva has not played any matches to date in 2006 following her drug ban.
Performance timeline
| Tournament | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | W-L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | - | 1r | - | - | 0-1 |
| Roland Garros | - | QF | - | 4-1 | |
| Wimbledon | - | 2r | - | 1-1 | |
| US Open | 1r | 2r | - | 1-2 | |
| WTA Tour Championships | - | - | - | 0-0 |
External links
- Sesil Karatantcheva profile on the WTA Tour's official website
- Sesil Karatantcheva Site
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