Sesil Radoslavova Karatantcheva ( bg, Сесил Радославова Каратанчева; born 8 August 1989) is a Bulgarian former
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player.
In her career, she won nine singles titles on the
ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players.
History
It serves as a developmental ...
. On 7 November 2005, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 35. On 19 April 2010, she peaked at No. 154 in the doubles rankings.
Karatantcheva is perhaps best known for reaching the quarterfinals of the
2005 French Open
The 2005 French Open was the 109th edition of the tournament.
On the men's side, Rafael Nadal, seeded fourth at his first French Open, was a strong favorite to win the singles title after winning the Monte Carlo and Rome Masters. Guillermo Coria ...
, upsetting seven-time Grand Slam champion
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
en route. The same year, she twice tested positive for
nandrolone
Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) which is used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate (brand name Durabolin). Nandrolon ...
and was therefore issued a two-year suspension. She returned to professional competition in January 2008.
Tennis career
She began playing tennis at the age of five.
In 2001, 12-year-old Karatantcheva won the Orange Bowl tournament for her age group, defeating
Alisa Kleybanova
Alisa Mikhailovna Kleybanova (russian: Алиса Михайловна Клейбанова, born 15 July 1989) is a Russian former tennis player. Her career-high singles ranking is world No. 20, achieved in February 2011. In her career. she wo ...
in the final.
Early in her playing days, she trained for approximately six months at the famous
IMG Academy
IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a board ...
of
Nick Bollettieri
Nicholas James Bollettieri (July 31, 1931 – December 4, 2022) was an American tennis coach. He pioneered the concept of a tennis boarding school, and helped develop many leading tennis players during the past decades, including Andre Agassi, J ...
.
2003-2004: Early career
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 No. 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.
In 2004, Karatantcheva began her season at the
WTA tournament in Indian Wells, where she defeated
Alexandra Stevenson
Alexandra Winfield Stevenson (born December 15, 1980) is an American former professional tennis player.
Early life and education
Stevenson's mother is Samantha Stevenson, a sports journalist. Her father is former National Basketball Associati ...
in the first, and upset the 17th seed
Magüi Serna
María Luisa ("Magüi") Serna Barrera (; born 1 March 1979) is a former tennis player from Spain.
She started competing on the ITF Circuit as from 1993, and joined the WTA Tour in 1996. On 12 January 2004, she reached her career-high singles ...
in the second round. In an interview prior to her match against 16th seed
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...
, 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. On April 19, she played her first match for the
Bulgaria Fed Cup team
The Bulgaria women's national tennis team represents Bulgaria in Billie Jean King Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Bulgarian Tennis Federation.
In 2022, Bulgaria competed in the Europe/Africa Zone Group I event in Antalya, where t ...
. 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 Vancouver, British Columbia, and qualified for the
US Open, before losing to eventual champion
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian inactive professional tennis player. She is a two-time major singles champion, winning the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, and finishing runner-up at two other majors. I ...
in the first round. Karatantcheva also reached the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Québec City, and captured another ITF tournament in December at Palm Beach Gardens. In 2004 she became the French Open junior champion.
2005: Breakthrough and first French Open quarterfinal
2005 was Karatantcheva's breakthrough year. She started off the year at the tournament in Gold Coast, Australia by qualifying, and then defeating the tournament's No. 7 seed
Elena Likhovtseva
Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva (russian: Елена Александровна Лиховцева ; born 8 September 1975) is a Kazakhstani-born Russian former tennis player. She turned professional in January 1992, at the age of 16.
Together ...
before falling in the quarterfinals. She then qualified for the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, losing to the No. 4 seed Sharapova in the first round. Her most successful tournament to date was at
Roland Garros where Karatantcheva defeated the No. 19 seed
Shinobu Asagoe
is a Japanese former tennis player. She turned professional in 1997, and retired in 2006.
Career
2000 was the first year in which she finished in the WTA top 100 (No. 72). At the US Open that year, she defeated Patty Schnyder, a top-50 playe ...
in the second round, and then stunned the world with her victory over the No. 11 seed and former world number one
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
in the third round. After defeating
Emmanuelle Gagliardi
Emmanuelle Gagliardi (born 9 July 1976) is a retired Swiss tennis player.
She was coached by Marco Tarelli and her preferred surface was hardcourt.
Gagliardi never won a WTA Tour singles title, but reached the semifinals of the 2002 Indian Wel ...
, she fell to Likhovtseva in the quarterfinals. Karatantcheva became the youngest female to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament since
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...
in 1996. At
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, she lost to Sharapova once again, being able to win just one game.
In 2005, Karatantcheva also won a European club championship in Rennes as a member of the Cherno More Elite team (Bulgarian: Черно море Елит). Her teammates were Virginiya Trifonova,
Maria Penkova and
Tsvetana Pironkova
Tsvetana Kirilova Pironkova ( bg, Цветана Кирилова Пиронкова ; born 13 September 1987) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. Considered to be one of the best grass court players of her generation, she has been not ...
.
At the end of the year, Karatantcheva came up eighth in the
Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year
Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year ( bg, Спортист на годината на България, ''Sportist na godinata na Balgariya'') is an annual award given to the best Bulgarian sportsperson of the year. The winner is selected by author ...
rankings, earning 676 points.
She was also honoured by the Bulgarian Tennis Federation as the "Best female tennis player of the year".
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 (after the 1/4 final match against Likhovtseva),
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
Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) which is used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate (brand name Durabolin). Nandrolon ...
in her system. Karatantcheva has denied all allegations, saying "I am shocked. I have not appeared before judges of the international federation."
2006-2007: Doping scandal and two-year suspension
On 11 January 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 3 July 2006, the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...
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.
Karatantcheva did not play any matches in 2006 or 2007 following her drug ban. She mainly trained in
Pravets
Pravets or Pravetz ( bg, Правец, also transliterated as Pravec, ) is a town in Pravets Municipality in central western Bulgaria, located approximately from the capital Sofia. Pravets is home town of Pravetz computers.
Pravets has a populat ...
.
2008
![Sesil us open](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Sesil_us_open.JPG)
Karatantcheva's first match after the ban was in a pre-qualification tournament for a wildcard into the $25k tournament in Surprise, Arizona. She won three matches in one day to win the event and thus won a wildcard for the qualifying draw, in which she beat Susanna Lingman, Maria Kondratieva, and
Kristína Kučová
Kristína Kučová (; born 23 May 1990) is a Slovak tennis player. On 12 September 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 71. On 5 October 2009, she peaked at No. 168 in the WTA doubles rankings.
She has won one singles title on ...
. In the main draw, Karatantcheva beat the fifth seed
Sunitha Rao
Sunitha Rao (born October 27, 1985) is an American former professional tennis player, who represented India in international tournaments. She won eight doubles titles on the ITF Circuit in her career. On July 7, 2008, she reached her best singl ...
in three sets in the first round, and
Robin Stephenson
Robin Stephenson (born June 21, 1983) is a former American professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking is No. 435, which she reached on February 11, 2008. Her career-high doubles ranking is 157, set on December 8, 2008.
She p ...
in the second round. In the quarterfinals, Karatantcheva beat
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková (; born 4 October 1988) is a retired Slovak tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Rybáriková reached the semifinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and bro ...
in two sets, and in the semifinals she defeated the second seed
Viktoriya Kutuzova
Viktoriya Kutuzova ( uk, Вікторія Кутузова, born 19 August 1988) is a former tennis player from Ukraine.
On 28 November 2005, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 76.
Career
Even though considered a potential ...
. In the finals, Sesil played a tough three-set match and overcame the eighth seed American
Angela Haynes
Angela Haynes (born September 27, 1984) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Her top WTA singles ranking is world No. 95 which she attained in August 2005.
Her brother Dontia Haynes, a former San Diego State University ...
.
In late January, still unranked, she entered another $25k tournament at La Quinta, and again battled through three rounds of qualifying into the main draw, despite a scare in her qualifying match against American player
Stacia Fonseca, who took the first set. Having fended off a spirited challenge from second-seeded
Angelika Bachmann
Angelika Bachmann (born 16 May 1979) is a former professional German tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player ...
in the first round of the main draw, she made light work of subsequent opponents en route to the semifinals, where for the second tournament in succession she was scheduled to play Viktoriya Kutuzova. This time, the match ran to three sets, but Karatantcheva ultimately prevailed in three sets. In the final, Karatantcheva defeated the third seed
Sandra Klösel
Sandra Klösel (born 22 June 1979) is a former tennis player from Germany.
Kösel turned professional in July 1995, and won nine singles and six doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. In March 2007, she reached her career-high singles ranking of ...
.
Karatantcheva attracted criticism from the Bulgarian tennis federation for competing at La Quinta in preference to participating in Bulgaria's
Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis.
Federation Cup may also refer to:
* Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament
*Federation Cup ...
tie scheduled the same week. She was accused of breach of contract and threatened with a fine, but the Bulgarian teenager stood by her decision, which she had taken on the grounds that it was proving extremely difficult for her to gain entry even to low-level tournaments following the loss of all her ranking points and any right to protected ranking status after her ban, so she needed to work at re-establishing herself at least in the mid-hundreds of the
WTA rankings
The WTA rankings are the ratings defined by the Women's Tennis Association, introduced in November 1975.
Iga Świątek is the current world No. 1.
Ranking method
The WTA rankings are based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system. A play ...
as a matter of priority before tending to national team commitments.
In February, the Bulgarian was awarded a wildcard into the $75k Midland event, but her winning streak came to an abrupt end as she was defeated in the first round by qualifier
Valérie Tétreault
Valérie Tétreault (born January 21, 1988) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 112 in February 2010, and peaked at No. 307 in the doubles rankings in April of the same year.
Te ...
of Canada, who had raced through the three qualifying rounds for the loss of just nine games, five of them against former top 50 star
Mirjana Lučić Mirjana (; ) is a Slavic feminine given name meaning ′''mir''′ ("peace, world, prestige, area, space"). The name is widespread throughout Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia.
Mirjana is possibly a form of Miriam a ...
. Karatantcheva then attempted to qualify for the WTA Tier III event in Memphis but lost in the first round of qualifying to
Hana Šromová
Hana Šromová (born 10 April 1978 in Kopřivnice) is a Czech former tennis player.
Šromová won eight singles and 35 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is ...
of the Czech Republic.
In early March, she qualified for the $50k Las Vegas event including victories over
Amber Liu and
Elena Bovina
Elena Olegovna Bovina ( rus, link=no, Елена Олеговна Бовина, , ɪ̯ɪˈlʲenə ˈbovʲɪnə; born 10 March 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Russia. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 in ...
. However, she lost in the first round of the main draw to wildcarded American
Madison Brengle
Madison Brengle (born April 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. Her biggest success she had in early 2015, reaching her first WTA Tour final in January, followed by a fourth round major event appearance at the Australian Open. ...
. She also received a wildcard into the qualifying event for the Tier I event at Indian Wells but lost in the first round of qualifying to
Evgeniya Rodina
Evgeniya Sergeyevna Rodina (russian: Евгения Сергеевна Родина, born 4 February 1989) is a Russian tennis player. On 6 May 2019, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of 67.
Rodina has won 13 singles titles on the ITF ...
. Her luck changed however, when, at the end of March, she managed to qualify and reach the final of the $50k event in Latina, losing to
Iveta Benešová
Iveta Benešová () (formerly Melzer, cs, Melzerová; born 1 February 1983) is a Czech former tennis player. She began playing tennis at age of seven and turned professional in 1998. She won two WTA Tour singles and 14 doubles tournaments, and ...
in straight sets.
In April, she reached the quarterfinals of the $25k event at Civitavecchia, losing to
Betina Jozami
Betina Jozami (born 8 September 1988) is a retired tennis player from Argentina. In her career, she won seven singles and 15 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
Jozami participated at the 2007 Pan American Games where she won the gold medal wit ...
of Argentina in straight sets. Her route through to the final of the $25k event in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, included a victory over seventh-seeded
Lauren Albanese
Lauren Albanese (born October 1, 1989, in Jacksonville, Florida) is an American inactive tennis player.
She began her professional career in 2006. Her highest Women's Tennis Association, WTA singles ranking is 158, which she reached on June 15, ...
. Argentinian
Soledad Esperón
Soledad Esperón (; born 8 February 1985) is a Argentine former tennis player.
She won ten singles and 25 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit in her career. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 166, which she reached on 23 March 2009. Her ca ...
beat her in two sets in the final.
In May, she played her first WTA main-draw match since her suspension in Fes, Morocco against
Elena Baltacha
Elena Sergeevna Baltacha ( uk, Олена Сергіївна Балтача; 14 August 1983 – 4 May 2014) was a Ukrainian-born British professional tennis player. Being a four-time winner of the AEGON Awards, she was also a long-ter ...
which she won in straight sets.
In June, Sesil reached the quarterfinals of the $75k tournament in Marseille. In the qualifications of Wimbledon, she lost in the second round to
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková (; born 4 October 1988) is a retired Slovak tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Rybáriková reached the semifinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and bro ...
from Slovakia.
2009: Representing Kazakhstan
On 10 January 2009, it was announced that Karatantcheva would take Kazakh citizenship and compete for the
Kazakhstan Fed Cup team
The Kazakhstan Billie Jean King Cup team represents Kazakhstan in the Billie Jean King Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation. They currently compete in the Asia/Oceania Zone of Group I.
History
Kazakhstan co ...
.
She did not participate in Fed Cup competitions for Kazakhstan during 2009.
In tournament play in January, she reached the second round (as a qualifier) at the Brisbane International, defeating top 50 player Iveta Benešová along the way and then backed it up by playing (and winning) her first main-draw major match (again as a qualifier) at the Australian Open. She then lost in the second round to
Peng Shuai
Peng Shuai (; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese retired professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked world No. 1 doubles player by the WTA, becoming the first Chinese tennis player to achieve that ranking (in either single ...
. This was to be her last main tournament playing for Bulgaria until 2015.
2010: First WTA semifinal
At the
Pattaya Open, Karatantcheva reached her first WTA semifinal, before losing to
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Tamarine Tanasugarn ( th, แทมมารีน ธนสุกาญจน์, , ; born 24 May 1977) is a Thai former tennis player. Born in Los Angeles, she turned professional in 1994, and has been in the top 20 in both singles and doubl ...
. Karatantcheva qualified for the
Aegon Classic
The Birmingham Classic (currently sponsored by Rothesay Pensions) is a 250-level women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Held at this location since 1982, the tour ...
tournament in Birmingham where she reached the quarterfinals winning five matches in a row, upsetting
Yaroslava Shvedova
Yaroslava Vyacheslavovna Shvedova (; born 12 September 1987) is a Kazakhstani former professional tennis player. Before 2008, she represented her country of birth, Russia.
She won one singles title and 13 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, plus o ...
in straight sets in the second round, before losing to second seed Maria Sharapova.
2011
Karatantcheva failed to qualify in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Pattaya
Pattaya ( th, พัทยา, , ) is a city in Thailand. It is on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about southeast of Bangkok, within, but not part of, Bang Lamung district in the province of Chonburi province, Chonburi. Pattaya City ( ...
, and
Monterrey
Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...
. She reached the final of a $25k event in Clearwater, Florida, losing to
Ajla Tomljanović
Ajla Tomljanović ( ; ; born 7 May 1993) is an Australian professional tennis player. She has won four singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 31 October 2022, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33. On 5 Janu ...
. At the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
, she lost to
Olga Govortsova
Olga Alekseyevna Govortsova ( be, Вольга Аляксееўна Гаварцова (Volha Alyakseyeuna Havartsova); ; born 23 August 1988) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. On 23 June 2008, she achieved a career-high singles ranki ...
in the final round of qualifying. After barely missing out on qualifying for the
Aegon Classic
The Birmingham Classic (currently sponsored by Rothesay Pensions) is a 250-level women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Held at this location since 1982, the tour ...
, Karatantcheva fell to
Arina Rodionova
Arina Ivanovna Rodionova (russian: Арина Ивановна Родионова; born 15 December 1989) is a Russian-born Australian tennis player.
Rodionova has won nine singles and 42 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In 2007, ...
in the first round of qualifying of
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
. She took a two-week break following Wimbledon.
She returned at the
WTA Palermo
The Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, also known as the Palermo Ladies Open, is a women's tennis tournament in Palermo, Italy that is played on outdoor clay courts at the Country Time Club. The first two editions were part of the Satellite Circu ...
, where she qualified for the main draw. She drew second seed
Roberta Vinci
Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position. She also reached a career-high ranking of world No. 7 in ...
in the first round. Although Karatantcheva played well she was beaten in straight sets. She then competed in two $100k events – in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
and
Astana
Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...
, losing in the early round of both tournaments.
She then failed to qualify for the
US Open, marking the first year since 2009 that she had not competed in the main draw of a major. Her poor form continued, losing in the first or second rounds of four more ITF tournaments.
She began to improve her game by advancing to the semifinals of a $50k event in Troy, Alabama. She then competed in a $25k tournament in
Rock Hill, losing in the quarterfinals. Karatantcheva then played at the $50k event in
Grapevine, Texas
Grapevine is a city and suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth located in northeast Tarrant County, Texas, United States, with minor portions extending into Dallas County and Denton County. The city is located in the Mid-Cities suburban region between Da ...
, where she advanced to the final, losing to 8th seed
Kurumi Nara
is a Japanese former professional tennis player.
She has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 18 August 2014, she reached a career-high singles ranking of worl ...
in three sets. Following her performance in Grapevine, Sesil achieved her best result of the year by winning a $75k tournament, the
Goldwater Women's Tennis Classic, in Phoenix, Arizona, the biggest title of her career. She won the title dropping only two sets the entire tournament, defeating a seeded player along the way. Karatantcheva's recent change in form has propelled her well back inside the top 200 and she established herself as one of the leading Kazakh players.
2012
Karatantcheva began the year ranked World No. 139. She failed to qualify in Brisbane and at the Australian Open. She then competed in the $100k tournament in
Cali
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...
. Unseeded, she advanced to the semifinals before losing to
Mandy Minella
Mandy Minella (born 22 November 1985) is a former professional tennis player from Luxembourg. Having made her debut on the WTA Tour in 2001, she peaked at No. 66 in the WTA singles rankings in September 2012, and No. 47 in doubles in April 2013 ...
. She then played at the
Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas
The Copa Colsanitas is a women's professional tennis tournament held in Bogotá, Colombia at the Centro de Alto Rendimiento. Held since 1998, this WTA 250 tournament is played on outdoor clay courts
A clay court is one of the types of tenni ...
and
Monterrey Open
The Monterrey Open is a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. The event is affiliated with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and is part of the 250 series on the WTA Tour. From 2009 to 2013, the tournament wa ...
. Although she qualified for both, she lost in the first round to
Catalina Castaño and Yaroslava Shvedova, respectively. Sesil then qualified for the
Abierto Mexicano Telcel
The Mexican Open (currently sponsored by Telcel and HSBC and called the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC) is a men's professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, and usually held annually in late February at the Arena GN ...
. Although she put up a fight, Sesil was defeated by sixth seed
Johanna Larsson
Johanna Larsson (; born 17 August 1988) is a Swedish former tennis player. She won two singles and 14 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and 17 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. Her career-high WTA rankings are No. ...
in three sets, in the first round. Karatantcheva committed 18 double faults during the match – almost an all-time high in WTA history. Karatantcheva then competed at the
Indian Wells Open
The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...
and the
Miami Open, losing in the first round of qualifying for both tournaments. Despite the losses, she rebounded and reached the final of a $50k event, losing to
Arantxa Rus
Arantxa Rus (; born 13 December 1990) is a Dutch tennis player. In 2008, she won the girl's singles title at the 2008 Australian Open – Girls' singles, Australian Open, defeating Jessica Moore (tennis), Jessica Moore from Australia in the final ...
.
Karatantcheva headed to Portugal for the
Estoril Open. In the first round of qualifications, she drew Italian
Maria Elena Camerin
Maria Elena Camerin (born 21 March 1982) is a former professional tennis player from Italy.
In her career, Camerin won three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as ten singles and nine doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 11 October 2004 ...
, whom she defeated in three tough sets. In the second round of qualifying, however, she was defeated by
Mariana Duque-Marino
Mariana may refer to:
Literature
* ''Mariana'' (Dickens novel), a 1940 novel by Monica Dickens
* ''Mariana'' (poem), a poem by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
* ''Mariana'' (Vaz novel), a 1997 novel by Katherine Vaz
Music
*"Mariana", a so ...
, despite the fact she was leading with a break in the deciding set. Karatantcheva then lost in the first round of qualifying of the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
. At the French Open, she lost in the final round of qualifying to
Alexa Glatch
Alexa Glatch (born September 10, 1989) is an American professional tennis player.
Junior career
She started playing tennis at the age of five. As a junior player, she won the prestigious Easter Bowl title in the Girls-14s and Girls-18s divisions ...
. However, she was offered a spot in the main draw after the withdrawal of
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Igorevna Zvonareva ( rus, Вера Игоревна Звонарёва, p=ˈvʲɛrə ˈiɡərʲɪvnə zvənɐˈrʲɵvə, a=Vera zvonareva.ogg; born 7 September 1984) is a Russian professional tennis player. She was introduced to tennis at ...
. She played
Tímea Babos
Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a four-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2018 and 2020 Australian Opens, as well as the Fre ...
in the first round and won in two easy sets. This was Karatantcheva's first Grand Slam tournament main-draw appearance in almost 2 1/2 years.
She opened her grass-court season at the
Aegon Classic
The Birmingham Classic (currently sponsored by Rothesay Pensions) is a 250-level women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Held at this location since 1982, the tour ...
in Birmingham. She entered the qualifying draw and defeated local girl
Francesca Stephenson, but fell to Thailand's
Noppawan Lertcheewakarn
Noppawan "Nok" Lertcheewakarn ( th, นพวรรณ เลิศชีวกานต์; born 18 November 1991) is a former professional Thai tennis player. At 2009 Wimbledon Championships, she won the junior singles title. She reached car ...
in the final round. However, she was offered a place in the main draw as a lucky loser due to the withdrawal of another player. She faced another Thai player, Tamarine Tanasugarn, defeating her in straight sets. Her run was ended in the second round by eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova. She then lost in the final round of qualifying at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
. Despite the loss, her ranking climbed due to her improved result from 2011.
Karatantcheva then played at the
Bank of the West Classic
The Silicon Valley Classic, sponsored by Mubadala Investment Company, is a week-long tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held on the campus of San Jose State University in San Jose, California, United States. Started in 1971, the tournament is the ol ...
. She fell in the first round of qualifying. She then qualified for the Premier-level
Mercury Insurance Open
The Southern California Open currently known as The San Diego Open is an ATP 250 and WTA 500 tournament held at the Barnes Tennis Centre in San Diego, California. The event originated as the Southern California Championships that ran from 1887 ...
in Carlsbad. She was points away from winning, but was finally beaten by
Melinda Czink
Melinda Czink (born 22 October 1982) is a former professional tennis player from Hungary. On 21 September 2009, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 37.
Czink reached two WTA Tour singles finals. In 2005, she lost to Ana Iva ...
in the first round. She then competed at the second annual Washington Open where she lost to
Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in t ...
in the first round. She then continued her hardcourt season at the
Rogers Cup
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
in Montreal. As the 18th seed in qualifying, she won three matches for a place in the main draw. In the first round she dismantled
Sorana Cîrstea
Sorana Mihaela Cîrstea (; born 7 April 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. In singles, she achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 on 12 August 2013. In doubles, her career-high ranking is No. 35, which she reached on 9 March ...
, without losing a single game, in only 43 minutes. Karatantcheva lost to 16th seed
Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafářová (; born 4 February 1987) is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and No. 5 in singles.
She is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2015 Australian Open, 2015 ...
in the second round in straight sets. Her ranking climbed to No. 92, her highest ranking since 2005. Karatantcheva then played at the
Western & Southern Open, qualifying into the main draw by beating world No. 64
Arantxa Rus
Arantxa Rus (; born 13 December 1990) is a Dutch tennis player. In 2008, she won the girl's singles title at the 2008 Australian Open – Girls' singles, Australian Open, defeating Jessica Moore (tennis), Jessica Moore from Australia in the final ...
and
Olga Govortsova
Olga Alekseyevna Govortsova ( be, Вольга Аляксееўна Гаварцова (Volha Alyakseyeuna Havartsova); ; born 23 August 1988) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. On 23 June 2008, she achieved a career-high singles ranki ...
. In the first round of the main draw, she won against fellow qualifier
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
, but was soundly beaten by former world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, in the second round. Her next tournament was the
US Open. Ranked world No. 85, she was given direct entrance into the main draw. She lost to
Lourdes Domínguez Lino
Lourdes Domínguez Lino (; born 31 March 1981) is a retired tennis player from Spain. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 40 in singles and 45 in doubles.
Tennis career
In the 1999 Roland Garros, she won the junior girls' singles, de ...
in the first round.
Following the US Open, Karatantcheva competed in
Québec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
and
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, losing in the first round of both tournaments. She continued by then losing in the qualifying draw of the next four events in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
,
Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...
, and
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. Her final tournament of the year was in
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
, where she was the defending champion and second seed. She suffered a shock straight set loss to world No. 217
Shelby Rogers
Shelby Rogers (born October 13, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 30 in singles achieved August 2022 and No. 40 in doubles, achieved February 2022, and has won six singles and two doub ...
in the first round. Despite the loss, she ended the year at No. 93, her first year-end ranking inside the top 100 since 2005.
2013
Karatantcheva began the season at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, losing to 6th seed
Li Na
Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player.
She achieved a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 2 on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine WTA Tour singles titles including two Grand Sl ...
in the first round. She next played for Kazakhstan in
Fed Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...
. Placed in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I in
Astana
Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...
, Karatantcheva played with
Galina Voskoboeva
Galina Olegovna Voskoboeva (russian: Галина Олеговна Воскобоева; born 18 December 1984) is a professional Russian-born Kazakhstani tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 on 7 May 2012. He ...
to beat
Rutuja Bhosale
Rutuja Sampatrao Bhosale (born 27 March 1996) is an Indian tennis player.
She made her debut for India Fed Cup team in 2012, the same year, she achieved her highest junior ranking of world No. 55.
Bhosale, the former Indian number one in th ...
and
Ankita Raina, securing Kazakhstan's 3–0 sweep over
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Following Kazakhstan's win over
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, they defeated
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
in the Group I promotional play-off. Their win over Uzbekistan has catapulted Kazakhstan into the World Group II play-offs in April for the first time ever. Karatantcheva then played at the WTA 125,000 event in
Cali
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...
, losing in the quarterfinals to
Catalina Castaño in three sets. She then lost in
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
qualifying before losing to
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone (; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She wa ...
in the second round at
Acapulco
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...
. Karatantcheva then qualified for the
Indian Wells Open
The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...
, but lost to
Lara Arruabarrena
Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (; born 20 March 1992) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. On 3 July 2017, she reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of 52, and her best doubles ranking is world No. 28, set on 22 February 2016. Arr ...
in the first round. At the
Miami Open, she entered the qualifying draw and defeated
Anastasia Rodionova
Anastasia (from el, Ἀναστασία, translit=Anastasía) is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning "resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where it was the most ...
in the first round, saving two match points and battling almost three hours before winning. She lost in the final round to
Silvia Soler Espinosa
Silvia () is a female given name of Latin origin, with a male equivalent Silvio and English-language cognate Sylvia. The name originates from the Latin word for forest, ''Silva'', and its meaning is "spirit of the wood"; the mythological god of ...
. Karatantcheva closed the hard court season with a first round loss in
Osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
to
Olga Puchkova
Olga Alekseyevna Puchkova (also Poutchkova; russian: links=no, Ольга Алексеевна Пучкова; be, Вольга Аляксееўна Пучкова, links=no; born 27 September 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis playe ...
.
Karatantcheva opened her clay court season by falling in the qualifying rounds in
Charleston and
Oeiras. She then won only two matches in her next four tournaments before heading to
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, where she lost in the final round of qualifying to Austrian
Yvonne Meusburger
Yvonne Meusburger Garamszegi (née Meusburger, born 3 October 1983) is an Austrian retired tennis player.
Meusburger won one singles title on the WTA Tour, as well as fifteen singles and nine doubles titles on the ITF Circuit in her career. O ...
in a close three-set match. Following Wimbledon, Karatantcheva played two more clay-court events in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
and
Båstad
Båstad () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Båstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden, with approximately 5,000 permanent residents. It is however one of Sweden's most typical summer resorts. The population is presumably more ...
, losing to
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
and Serena Williams, respectively.
After skipping the first week of the
US Open Series
The US Open Series is the name given by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to a series of North American professional tennis tournaments leading up to and including the US Open. It is part of the "North American hard court season". Emira ...
, Karatantcheva entered the
Southern California Open
The Southern California Open currently known as The San Diego Open is an ATP 250 and WTA 500 tournament held at the Barnes Tennis Centre in San Diego, California. The event originated as the Southern California Championships that ran from 1887 ...
in Carlsbad. She played the qualifying draw and won three consecutive matches against Chieh-yu Hsu,
Katalin Marosi
Katalin Marosi (born 12 November 1979) is a Hungarian former professional tennis player.
In her career, Marosi won 15 singles and 31 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 8 May 2000, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 1 ...
, and
Ivana Lisjak
Ivana Lisjak (Croatian pronunciation: ʋana lǐsjaːk born March 17, 1987) is a former tennis player from Croatia. She turned professional at the age of 14, peaked at No. 95 on the WTA rankings
The WTA rankings are the ratings defined by the ...
for a spot in the main draw. There, she drew Julia Görges and defeated the world No. 42 in straight sets. She advanced to the second round but lost to eventual champion
Samantha Stosur
Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...
, winning only five games. Despite the loss, her win over Görges was the biggest win of her season. Her next tournament was the
Rogers Cup
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
in Toronto where she fell in the first round of qualifying. Her ranking plummeted to No. 163 as a result of her failure to defend 2012's second round points. At the
US Open, Karatantcheva played the qualifying draw and won two matches before losing out to Mirjana Lučić-Baroni in straight sets.
Following the US Open, Karatantcheva played at the
Challenge Bell
Challenge may refer to:
* Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters
* Euphemism for disability
* Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty
Places
Geography
*Challenge, C ...
, again entering the qualifying draw. She beat Élisabeth Fournier,
Petra Rampre
Petra Rampre (born 20 January 1980) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player.
In her career, she won eight singles and five doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 30 April 2012, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 151. On ...
, and
CoCo Vandeweghe
Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...
to enter the main draw. She played fellow qualifier
Amra Sadiković
Amra Sadiković ( mk, Амра Садиковиќ; ; born 6 May 1989) is a Swiss tennis player. She announced her retirement in May 2014, a few days after her 25th birthday, only to begin playing 13 months later on the ITF Women's Circuit again. ...
and beat the Swiss in straight sets. In the second round, she lost to fifth seeded local hope
Eugenie Bouchard
Eugenie "Genie" Bouchard (; french: Eugénie Bouchard, ; born February 25, 1994) is a Canadian tennis player. At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first Canadian-born player representing Canada to reach the final of a Grand Slam t ...
. She returned to the United States to compete in two ITF Circuit events in
Albuquerque
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
and
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, losing in the first round of both tournaments. Her final events of the season saw her lose in
Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...
qualifying, bow out to
Karin Knapp
Karin Knapp (born 28 June 1987) is a retired Italian tennis player.
In her career, Knapp won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles titles and six doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, ITF Circuit. On 24 August 2015, sh ...
in the first round of the
Luxembourg Open
Luxembourg Open,
Tennis tournaments in Luxembourg
Indoor tennis tournaments
Hard court tennis tournaments
WTA Tour
Kockelscheuer
Recurring sporting events established in 1991
Autumn events in Luxembourg
1991 establishments in Luxembourg ...
, and lose in the first round of an ITF event in Nantes.
2014
Karatantcheva made her 2014 debut at the
Hobart International
The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and is classed as an Interna ...
, losing in the first round of qualifying to Belgian
Alison Van Uytvanck
Alison Van Uytvanck (; born 26 March 1994) is a Belgian professional tennis player.
Van Uytvanck has won five singles and two doubles WTA Tour titles and three Challenger Tour singles titles, as well as 12 singles and two doubles titles on th ...
. At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, she was seeded 22nd in the qualifying draw and lost there in the first round to
Duan Yingying
Duan Yingying (; born 3 July 1989) is a Chinese former professional tennis player.
In her career, she won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, and two WTA Challenger doubles titles, as well as eleven singles and three d ...
in straight sets. For Kazakhstan in
2014 Fed Cup
The 2014 Fed Cup (also known as the 2014 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas for sponsorship purposes) was the 52nd edition of the most important tournament between national teams in women's tennis. The final took place on 8–9 November and was won by the Cz ...
in the Group I final position play-off, Karatantcheva played
Liu Fangzhou
Liu Fangzhou (; ; born 12 December 1995) is a Chinese tennis player.
On 24 April 2017, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 127. On 16 June 2014, she peaked at No. 919 in the WTA doubles rankings.
Liu made her WTA Tour debut at t ...
and defeated the Chinese in three sets, ultimately sending Kazakhstan into third place in the Asia/Oceania Group I Zone. After that, Karatantcheva competed in
Midland, losing out to young American
Victoria Duval
Victoria Duval (born 30 November 1995) is an American professional tennis player.
Duval has won one singles title and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In August 2014, she reached her best singles ranking of No. 87. In 2012, she won ...
, and then traveled to Brazil to compete at the
Rio Open
The Rio Open, also known as the ''Rio Open presented by Claro'' for sponsorship reasons, is a tennis event on the ATP Tour and former WTA International Tournaments event. The tournament is played on outdoor clay courts at the Jockey Club Brasilei ...
and
Brasil Tennis Cup
The Brasil Tennis Cup was a professional women's tennis tournament contested in various Brazilian cities since 1977. The last edition was played on outdoor hard courts in Florianópolis, Brazil. In 2015, the tournament was held on clay courts. ...
. In Rio, she fell in the qualifying competition to
Verónica Cepede Royg
Verónica Cepede Royg (; born 21 January 1992) is a professional Paraguayan tennis player.
On 7 August 2017, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of No. 73 whilst her best doubles ranking is No. 85, achieved on 19 September 2016. Cepede ...
. In Florianopolis, however, she was more successful with qualifying wins over world No. 95
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish tennis coach and former professional player.
As a player she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 16 in 2020, and won 11 singles and 28 doubles titles, including the 2008 ...
and
Alexandra Panova
Alexandra Alexandrovna Panova (russian: Александра Александровна Панова; born 2 March 1989) is a Russian professional tennis player.
On 30 July 2012, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 71. On 18 ...
, the latter match lasting over three hours. Her run was ended in the first round by
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
.
Karatantcheva proceeded to compete in
Osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
, but lost to
Gioia Barbieri
Gioia Barbieri (; born 9 July 1991) is a retired Italian tennis player.
Tennis career
Barbieri was born in Forlimpopoli. She trained at the San Marino Tennis Academy, and was coached by Claudio Pistolesi. Her father is Andrea, her mother is Marc ...
in the first round. At the
Family Circle Cup
The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...
, she played qualifying and overcame Sanaz Marand before bowing out to
Alla Kudryavtseva
Alla Alexandrovna Kudryavtseva (; born 3 November 1987) is a retired Russian tennis player.
Kudryavtseva won one singles title and nine doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as two singles titles and 15 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Cir ...
. She next played at the
Dothan Pro Tennis Classic, but suffered another loss, going down to world No. 125
Michelle Larcher de Brito
Michelle Larcher de Brito (born 29 January 1993) is a Portuguese former professional tennis player. She is the former Portuguese No. 1.
Larcher de Brito won four singles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit in her career. On 6 July 2009, she rea ...
in the first round. Karatantcheva's final clay-court event in the United States was in Charlottesville, in which she was able to pick up form by reaching the quarterfinals. For the second consecutive year, she entered the
Nürnberger Versicherungscup
The Nuremberg Cup was a women's professional tennis tournament held in Nuremberg, Germany. Held from 2013 until 2019, this 250-level tournament was played on outdoor clay courts.
Tournament history
The Nuremberg Open was a defunct men's tenni ...
, but was defeated in the qualifying draw by German
Nina Zander
Nina Zander (born 26 January 1990) is a German former professional tennis player.
Zander was born in Nuremberg. She won one singles title and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit in her career. On 18 August 2014, she reached her best si ...
. At the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
, she won one match in the qualifying draw but would progress no further, as she was eliminated by
Laura Siegemund
Laura Natalie Siegemund (born 4 March 1988, in Filderstadt) is a German professional tennis player.
She is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 US Open in women's doubles with Vera Zvonareva, as well as the 2016 US Open in mi ...
in what was a tough three-set match. She would then compete in
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, advancing to the quarterfinals before going down to Johanna Larsson in a final-set tiebreak. Karatantcheva elected to skip all grass court events before Wimbledon, and suffered another Grand Slam defeat, this time at the hands of young Estonian
Anett Kontaveit
Anett Kontaveit (; born 24 December 1995) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 2 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 6 June 2022, making her the highest-ranked Eston ...
in the second round of qualifying.
She entered the inaugural
Bucharest Open, winning three qualifying matches before losing to Silvia Soler Espinosa in the first round. Karatantcheva then played qualifying at the
İstanbul Cup
The İstanbul Cup is a WTA tennis tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey, organised for professional female tennis players. It is classified as an International-level tournament on the WTA Tour. Held annually since May 2005, it was played on outdoo ...
but was beaten in the first round by
Ana Konjuh of Croatia. She returned to the ITF Circuit at the $50k
Powiat Poznański Open in Sobota, advancing to the final having only dropped a set, but suffered a disappointing three-set loss there after winning the first set. It was her first final since April 2012. At
US Open qualifying she was beaten in the first round by
Melanie Oudin
Melanie Jennings Oudin (born September 23, 1991) is an American former professional tennis player. The former world junior No. 2 was a member of the American Fed Cup team from 2009 to 2011 and the winner of the 2011 US Open mixed-doubles title ...
.
Karatantcheva returned to action at the
Canadian Open as a direct entrant in the main draw. She began with a win over
Sanaz Marand
Sanaz Marand ( fa, ساناز مرند; born June 21, 1988) is an American former tennis player.
In her career, she won two singles titles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In October 2014, she reached her best singles ranking o ...
in the first round and squared off against third seeded
Kristina Mladenovic
Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (; sr, Кристина "Кики" Младеновић, Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a nine-time Grand Slam ch ...
in the second, edging the Frenchwoman in a match that lasted over two-and-a-half hours. Karatantcheva subsequently moved on to the quarterfinals but was defeated there by
Mirjana Lučić-Baroni
Mirjana Lučić-Baroni (; ; born 9 March 1982) is a Croatian former professional tennis player. She enjoyed a meteoric rise on the WTA Tour in the late 1990s, during which she set several "youngest-ever" records. She captured the women's doubles ...
, who would go on to win the tournament.
In October, Karatantcheva announced that she had decided to play for her home country Bulgaria again.
She and her father first made the decision known to the Bulgarian public in an interview for
TV7.
Her switch back to Bulgaria was finalized a few weeks later and she reappeared under the Bulgarian flag in the 20 October WTA rankings.
2015: Representing Bulgaria once again
Karatancheva's first tournament of the year was the
Auckland Open, where
she lost in the third round of the qualifying competition to
Urszula Radwańska
Urszula Radwańska (; born 7 December 1990) is a Polish professional tennis player.
Radwańska has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as seven singles and ten doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 8 October 2012, she reached ...
.
Karatancheva also failed to qualify for the Australian Open, losing in the second qualifying round to
Alexandra Panova
Alexandra Alexandrovna Panova (russian: Александра Александровна Панова; born 2 March 1989) is a Russian professional tennis player.
On 30 July 2012, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 71. On 18 ...
. In February, she participated at the
Abierto Mexicano where she was defeated in straight sets in the third qualifying round by
Lucie Hradecká
Lucie Hradecká (; born 21 May 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam doubles champion and 26-time WTA Tour doubles titlist, she reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in ...
, but nonetheless reached the main tournament as a
lucky loser
A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw, usually when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness, injury ...
. Karatantcheva then eliminated
Marie Bouzková
Marie Bouzková (, born 21 July 1998) is a Czech professional tennis player. She attained her career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 26 on 31 October 2022. On 9 May 2022, she peaked at No. 24 in the WTA doubles rankings. So far, she has won one ...
, Kiki Bertens and
Monica Puig
Monica Puig Marchán, (born September 27, 1993) is a Puerto Rican former professional tennis player. She is the first Puerto Rican in history to win a gold medal at the Olympics while representing Puerto Rico, having done so in 2016 at the ...
to secure herself a place in the semifinals for the second time in her career. She subsequently lost to fifth seed
Timea Bacsinszky
Timea Bacsinszky ( hu, Bacsinszky Tímea; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player who won four singles titles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and 14 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. A for ...
in two sets. Next, she played at
Monterrey Open
The Monterrey Open is a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. The event is affiliated with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and is part of the 250 series on the WTA Tour. From 2009 to 2013, the tournament wa ...
, where she lost in the first round of qualifying. Despite the setback, Karatantcheva was nonetheless able to stay on course towards improving her ranking by qualifying for the main phase of the
Indian Wells Open
The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...
shortly after that. In the first round, she managed a two-set victory over compatriot and friend
Tsvetana Pironkova
Tsvetana Kirilova Pironkova ( bg, Цветана Кирилова Пиронкова ; born 13 September 1987) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. Considered to be one of the best grass court players of her generation, she has been not ...
. This was the first time since 2000 that two Bulgarian women had met in the main draw of a WTA tournament. Karatantcheva then suffered a defeat in straight sets to CoCo Vandeweghe. Next, Karatantcheva qualified for the main draw of
Miami Open, where she reached the second round, defeating
Lauren Davis
Lauren Davis (born October 9, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. Known for her aggressive backhand, speed, and clay-court strength, she won her first title on the WTA Tour at the Auckland Open and reached a career-high singles ra ...
then ranked No. 61, in the first round in straight sets, and losing to 21st seed
Garbiñe Muguruza
Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...
. Her ranking improved to 109. Next, at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, she qualified for the main draw, beating
Arantxa Rus
Arantxa Rus (; born 13 December 1990) is a Dutch tennis player. In 2008, she won the girl's singles title at the 2008 Australian Open – Girls' singles, Australian Open, defeating Jessica Moore (tennis), Jessica Moore from Australia in the final ...
and
Louisa Chirico
Louisa Chirico (born May 16, 1996) is an American tennis player. She is of Korean descent through her mother.
Chirico, who comes from Harrison, New York, has won five singles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 24 October 2016 ...
along the way, and lost in the first round to ninth seed Samantha Stosur. At the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
, Karatantcheva was seeded 3rd in the qualifying draw and she qualified for the main draw. In the first round she defeated former world No. 1, Jelena Janković, in straight sets, which allowed her to return to the top 100 in the WTA rankings. Then, she lost in the second round to
Irina Falconi
Irina Falconi ( es, Falconí; born May 4, 1990) is an Ecuadorian-born American former tennis player. She moved to Manhattan, New York, as a toddler.
Her highest WTA singles ranking is world No. 63, which she reached in May 2016. Her career-high ...
in three sets. Due to her improved ranking, Karatantcheva entered the main draw at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
. In the first round, she lost to Silvia Soler Espinosa in a tight three-setter match. At the
US Open, Karatantcheva suffered a 1–6, 2–6 loss to
Belinda Bencic
Belinda Bencic ( sk, Belinda Benčičová, ; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won six singl ...
from Switzerland.
2016
The new season began with a disappointment at
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, where she lost in the first round of the qualifying draw. She played at
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, starting once again from the qualifications, defeating Yaroslava Shvedova (after taking a 4–1 lead in the first set and her opponent retiring) in the first round, but then succumbing in straight sets to Magdaléna Rybáriková. At the
qualifying competition for the Australian Open Karatantcheva was seeded fourth. However, she was unable to pass the first hurdle, being defeated 6–2, 6–0 by American
Jessica Pegula
Jessica Pegula (born February 24, 1994) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings in singles and doubles of world No. 3, both achieved on October 24, 2022. She has won two singles titles and five doubles title ...
. Karatantcheva did not manage to reach the main draw of the 2016 French Open, losing to
Maryna Zanevska
Maryna Volodymyrivna Zanevska ( uk, Марина Володимирівна Заневська; born 24 August 1993) is a Ukrainian-born Belgian tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 62, achieved on 23 May 2022, and ...
in three sets after taking the first one in the
second round of qualifying, for which she was not among the seeds. Her downturn in fortunes continued in
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, where she suffered elimination in the first round of the qualifying competition at the hands of
Shérazad Reix in a hard-fought match that was decided in three sets. At the
qualifying competition for the US Open, Karatantcheva posted a win in three sets against Rebecca Šramková in the first round, but was then defeated by
Elise Mertens
Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
Mertens is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open partnering ...
in another three-setter match.
2017
Karatantcheva did not get past the first hurdle at the
qualifying tournament for the Australian Open, being on the receiving end of a 6–3, 6–2 defeat by
Anna Blinkova
Anna Vladimirovna Blinkova ( rus, Анна Владимировна Блинкова, , ˈanːə blʲɪnˈkovə, Ru-Anna Blinkova.ogg; born 10 September 1998) is a Russian professional tennis player.
She has won one singles and one doubles title ...
. After not participating in the qualifying competitions for the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
and
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, in late August 2017 she entered the
one for the US Open, where she convincingly defeated Arantxa Rus in the first round, but then lost in a dramatic three-setter match (that was decided by a tiebreak) against American
Claire Liu
Claire Liu (born May 25, 2000) is an American tennis player. On 24th October 2022, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 60.
In 2017, she was the world No. 1 in the junior rankings, after winning the Wimbledon girls' sing ...
. In September 2017, Karatantcheva won the title at the
Red Rock Pro Open in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, defeating compatriot
Elitsa Kostova
Elitsa Kostova ( bg, Елица Костова) (born 10 April 1990) is a former professional Bulgarian tennis player.
On 12 September 2016, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of No. 130, achieved on 12 September 2016, her best doubles ...
in the final by a score of 6–4, 4–6, 7–5.
2018
Karatantcheva played in the qualifying of the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, but had to exit in the first round losing 5–7, 6–3, 5–7 to
Irina Bara
Irina Maria Bara (born 18 March 1995) is a professional tennis player from Romania.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 104, achieved on 18 April 2022. On 13 May 2019, she peaked at No. 56 in the WTA doubles rankings. She won her ...
. She was also eliminated in the earliest possible stage of the qualifying draw for
the French Open, being on the receiving end of a 1–6, 6–2, 2–6 loss against
Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur ( ar, أُنْس جَابِر, ʾUns Jābir, ; born 28 August 1994) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of world No. 2 achieved on 27 June 2022. Jabeur is the curr ...
. The negative trend continued in her first qualifying match for
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, in which she emerged second best to
Mayo Hibi
is a Japanese former professional tennis player.
She has won eight singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 3 February 2020, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 157. On 26 May 2014, she peaked at No. 378 ...
by a score of 6–1, 3–6, 1–6. The qualifying event for the
US Open saw a repeat of her previous performances, as Karatantcheva did not get past the first round, being defeated 6–3, 2–6, 6–4 by Italian
Martina Trevisan
Martina Trevisan (; born 3 November 1993) is an Italian professional tennis player. Trevisan is the current Italian No. 1, has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 24 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and in 2021 had a peak doubles r ...
.
2019
Karatantcheva entered the
Australian Open qualifying, taking the first set against American
Asia Muhammad
Asia Muhammad (born April 4, 1991) is an American professional tennis player.
A doubles specialist, Muhammad has won seven doubles titles on the WTA Tour, four doubles titles on WTA Challenger Tour as well as 13 singles and 35 doubles titles on ...
, but eventually lost the other two. Her luck didn't change in the qualifying draw for
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
when she was defeated in straight sets by Romanian
Elena-Gabriela Ruse
Elena-Gabriela Ruse (born 6 November 1997) is a Romanian tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of 51 in singles and 55 in doubles. She won her maiden WTA Tour singles title at the 2021 Hamburg European Open. She has also won six singl ...
.
Personal life
She is the daughter of former
rower
Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...
and
member of parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
as part of the
Bulgarian Business Bloc
The Bulgarian Business Bloc ( bg, Български бизнес блок, Bulgarski biznes blok, BBB) was a political party in Bulgaria.
History
The party first participated in national elections in 1991, when it received 1.3% of the national v ...
, Radoslav Karatantchev.
He also used to be a member of the
Bulgarian Socialist Party and additionally acts as Karatatcheva′s coach.
She has three sisters,
one of whom, Gabriel Karatantcheva, was active as a professional tennis player from 2014 to 2017. Karatantcheva married long-time boyfriend and former
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
Georgi Dolmov in November 2017.
On 20 August 2021, she gave birth to her first child.
Grand Slam performance timeline
WTA career finals
Doubles: 1 (1 runner–up)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 17 (9 titles, 8 runner–ups)
Fed Cup participation
Sesil Karatantcheva debuted for the
Bulgaria Fed Cup team
The Bulgaria women's national tennis team represents Bulgaria in Billie Jean King Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Bulgarian Tennis Federation.
In 2022, Bulgaria competed in the Europe/Africa Zone Group I event in Antalya, where t ...
in 2004, winning her singles match in the tie against the
Estonia Fed Cup team
The Estonia Billie Jean King Cup team represents Estonia in the Billie Jean King Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Estonian Tennis Association.
Estonia has competed in Fed Cup since 1992.
In 2022, Estonia competes in the 2022 Bil ...
. Between 2010 and 2014 she competed for the
Kazakhstan Fed Cup team
The Kazakhstan Billie Jean King Cup team represents Kazakhstan in the Billie Jean King Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation. They currently compete in the Asia/Oceania Zone of Group I.
History
Kazakhstan co ...
. She maintains a 12–5 singles record and a 7–8 doubles record (19–13 overall). In January 2017, Karatantcheva was recalled to the Bulgarian team for the
February 2017 Europe/Africa Zone (Group I) matches.
Singles (12–5)
Doubles (7–8)
See also
*
List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
The following is an incomplete list of sportspeople who have been involved in doping offences. It contains those who have been found to have, or have admitted to having, taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs, prohibited recreational drugs or ...
References
External links
*
*
*
US Today interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karatantcheva, Sesil
1989 births
Living people
Naturalised citizens of Kazakhstan
Naturalised tennis players
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Bulgarian female tennis players
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstani female tennis players
Hopman Cup competitors
Bulgarian sportspeople in doping cases
Doping cases in tennis
Sportspeople from Sofia
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles
French Open junior champions