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Elena Baltacha (Ukrainian: Олена Балтача) is a British[2] tennis player of Ukrainian parentage who has played for Great Britain[3] and formerly Scotland in the now defunct Aberdeen Cup. She is a former British No.1, but is currently No.2 behind Anne Keothavong, with a current ranking of World No. 86. Her career high ranking of World No.86 was achieved on 26 October 2009). Over the course of her career she has won seven ITF singles titles (five $25,000 and two $75,000) and four ITF doubles titles (all $25,000). She has also twice been a runner-up in ITF events in singles and four times in doubles. In terms of wins, she has had the greatest success in Grand Slams of all the currently active female British tennis players. She reached the third round of the Australian Open in 2005 and the second round in 2009, both times as a qualifier. She also reached the third round of Wimbledon in 2002 and the second round three times in 2004, 2008 and 2009. This means that overall, she has won eight singles matches in Grand Slam main draws. Her closest British rival is Anne Keothavong, who has won four.
[edit] Personal lifeBaltacha was born 14 August 1983 in Kiev, Ukraine. She comes from a sporting family: her father Sergei was a professional footballer, representing the USSR and playing in the United Kingdom with Ipswich Town, St Johnstone and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and her mother Olga represented the USSR in both the pentathlon and heptathlon at the Olympic Games.[4] Her brother Sergei played football for Scottish Football League team St Mirren of Paisley and for Millwall.[5] After arriving at Heathrow Airport on 13 January 1989, Elena moved to Ipswich where her father Sergei was to play football for the next year before moving to Scotland. The family lived in Perth where she grew up and spent her teenage years.[4] Currently living in Enfield, London, England, with her mother, she practises at the Hazelwood Lawn Tennis and Squash Club, in Winchmore Hill, North London, where she is coached by Alan Jones and Jo Durie. She is part of a tennis academy set up at Hazelwood, aimed at grooming talented young players into future professionals.[6] [edit] Career[edit] Junior (1997 - 2001)Elena played her first match on the ITF junior circuit in February 1997 and her last at the 2001 US Open junior tournament. She never won a title but reached the final of two junior tournaments, at the 14th Bahia Junior Cup and at the LTA International Junior Tournament, Bisham Abbey. She also reached the semifinals of three tournaments and the quarterfinals of six others. In 2001 she reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon juniors championships where she was beaten by eventual champion, Angelique Widjaja, 7-5 6-7(2) 2-6. Over the course of her career as a junior, she gained wins over players such as Svetlana Kuznetsova, Gisela Dulko (twice) and Anne Keothavong. Her career-high singles ranking was world No.77 and her final singles win-loss record was 40-40.[7] As a doubles competitor, Elena won four tournaments and lost in the final of four more. She also lost in the semifinal stages of tournaments four times and the quarterfinals eight times. Her final doubles win-loss record was 37-30 and her career-high doubles ranking was world No.60.[7] [edit] 1997 - 2000In November 1997, Elena made her debut on the ITF circuit in Edinburgh where she was beaten in the first round of the qualifying stages in three sets by Danica Kovakova. She did however reach the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament.[8] She played only three adult ITF tournaments in 1998 (Birmingham, Southsea and Glasgow, all $10,000 events) and lost in the qualifying stages for each of them.[8] 1999 saw her first ITF main draw appearances. She competed in four tournaments in total and reached the quarterfinals of the $10,000 tournament in Glasgow.[8] In April 2000, Baltacha reached the quarterfinals of the $10,000 tournament in Bournemouth as a qualifier. She was given a wild card into the qualifying draw of her home Grand Slam, The Championships, Wimbledon where Flavia Pennetta beat her in three sets, 3-6 6-4 2-6. In October she received another wild card, this one into the Swisscom Challenge, a tier I tournament held in Zürich. The very next week she was a quarterfinalist at the $50,000 ITF tournament in Cardiff. Her season ending singles ranking was world No.397.[8] [edit] 2001Elena reached the quarterfinals of her first tournament of the year in January, a $10,000 ITF tournament in Jersey when she was forced to retire with the score at 3-6 0-1. She was out of action until late April when she reached the quarterfinals of the $10,000 tournament in Hatfield. Two weeks later she reached the quarterfinals of the $25,000 tournament in Edinburgh as a qualifier. She followed this up with a run to the semifinals of the $25,000 event in Surbiton. She was then given a wild card into the qualifying draw for the tier II event in Eastbourne, the Britannic Asset Management International Championships where she beat Frenchwoman, Virginie Razzano, 3-6 6-1 6-1, in the final round of qualifying to reach the main draw. Conchita Martinez beat her in the first round, 3-6 3-6. Just a week later she was given a wild card into the main draw of Wimbledon to give her the first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam. She was beaten, 1-6 5-7, by Nathalie Dechy in round one. Following Wimbledon she reached yet another ITF quarterfinal; this one in a $25,000 tournament in Felixstowe. She lost in round one of the qualifying tournament for the US Open in August and competed in four more ITF tournaments, reaching the quarterfinals of two of them (both $25,000). She ended the year with a singles ranking of world No.248.[8] [edit] 2002In February, Baltacha reached the quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF tournament in Sutton. She played for her country in the Fed Cup in April and won her singles rubber against Norway's, Annette Aksdal, 6-0 6-1. She then beat Lisa Stanciute from Lithuania in the relegation play offs in three sets, 4-6 6-2 6-2. Following this she attempted to qualify for the tier III, Croatian Bol Ladies Open where she was beaten in round one of the qualifying draw. This was the first of a string of five consecutive losses, the last of which was in the first round of the qualifying draw for the DFS Classic, a tier III event. She broke this string of losses with a win over Alina Jidkova in round one of the qualifying draw for the tier II, Britannic Asset Management International Championships. She was beaten by Elena Likhovtseva in the second round of qualifying. She was then given a wild card into the main draw of Wimbledon where she beat Maria Vento-Kabchi (6-4 6-4) in the first round[9] and Amanda Coetzer (5-7 6-4 6-2) in the second round[10] before losing to Elena Likhovtseva (for the second time in two consecutive tournaments), 4-6 6-7(2), in the third round.[11] Her next tournament after Wimbledon was the $25,000 ITF event in Felixstowe which she won by beating Irishwoman, Kelly Liggan, in the final to give her the first ITF singles title of her career.[12] Two weeks later she won her second title in Pamplona, again $25,000, when she defeated Virginie Pichet, 6-2 6-1, in the final. After this she attempted to qualify for the US Open but lost in the first round of the qualifying tournament for the second consecutive year. She played two more $25,000 ITF tournaments after the US Open, Glasgow and Southampton, where she reached the semifinals and quarterfinals respectively. Her season ending ranking for 2002 was world No.157.[8] [edit] 2003Elena's 2003 season started slowly; she lost in round one of the qualifying tournament for the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open. In April she was again part of the Great Britain Fed Cup team but lost her only match against Hungary's Petra Mandula, 1-6 3-6. She spent May failing to qualify for the tier III tournament, the Internationaux de Strasbourg and the second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open. In June she was given a wild card into the main draw of the DFS Classic but was forced to retire during her first round match verses fellow Brit, Jane O'Donoghue, with the score at 7-6(4) 5-7 0-1.[13] She was then awarded another wild card; this one into the qualifying draw of the tier II Hastings Direct International where she was beaten by Virginie Razzano, 4-6 1-6. For the third year running, she received a wild card into the main draw of Wimbledon where she forced the former world No.5, Jelena Dokic, to fight for her eventual 3-6 6-1 4-6 victory.[14] This was Elena's final match of the year as she underwent invasive surgery after Wimbledon (to determine the cause of her persistent liver troubles) which put her out of action until 2004. As a result, her year-end singles ranking fell to world No.373.[8] [edit] 2004Baltacha returned to action with a vengeance in January 2004 by reaching the semifinals of her first two ITF tournaments of the year. These were the $10,000 event in Hull and the $25,000 event in Sunderland. She played in the Fed Cup for the Great Britain Fed Cup team where she won her two singles rubbers against Turkey and Romania by beating Cigdem Duru (6-1 6-0) and Monica Niculescu (6-1 6-4) respectively. She also beat Irishwoman, Yvonne Doyle, in the Europe/Africa Group II play-offs. In June, Samantha Stosur beat Elena in the first round of the DFS Classic and Cara Black beat her in the final round of the qualifying tournament for the Hastings Direct International one week later.[15] Baltacha then headed to Wimbledon main draw courtesy of another wild card. She demolished world No.61, Marta Marrero, 6-1 6-3, in round one[16] before falling, 4-6 4-6, to 3-time Grand Slam champion, Jennifer Capriati in the second round.[17] Between Wimbledon and the US Open qualifying tournament (where she reached the second round before being beaten by Angelique Widjaja), she suffered three consecutive first-round losses in $50,000 ITF tournaments in the United States. After the US Open she reached the final of a $25,000 ITF event in Jersey where she lost, 6-3 2-6 1-6, to Emma Laine. She spent the remainder of her year competing on the ITF circuit and her year-end singles ranking rose to world No.202.[8] [edit] 2005Bally roared into action in 2005 at the Australian Open qualifying tournament where she won three matches in straight sets to successfully qualify; she beat Els Callens, Jaslyn Hewitt and Teryn Ashley in rounds one, two and three respectively. In the first round of the main draw she beat Katarina Srebotnik, 5-7 6-4 6-4, who later remarked that the Brit was "on fire" and that "if [Elena] plays like today, she can beat anyone. Some of the shots she was hitting were unbelievable."[18] She continued her winning streak with another three set victory in round two, this one over Frenchwoman, Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, 2-6 6-3 6-1.[19] Unfortunately for Baltacha, she ran out of steam in the third round, losing 1-6 0-6 to No.15 seed, Silvia Farina Elia.[20] She used her momentum from her good performance in the first Grand Slam of the year to carry her to the semifinals of her next tournament, a $25,000 ITF event in Sunderland where she lost to Sofia Arvidsson, 6-1 6-7(3) 0-6. She then immediately reached the finals of another $25,000 ITF event (this one in Redbridge) before being beaten, 0-6 3-6, by Nika Ozegovic. She again played for Great Britain in the Fed Cup. She lost her singles rubber against Ana Timotic from Serbia, won her singles rubber verses Karina-Ildor Jacobsgaard and was demolished in her third singles rubber against Katarina Srebotnik, 1-6 1-6, in retribution for her first round Australian Open exit. In the Europe/Africa Group I play-off, Elena was defeated by Ukranian, Alona Bondarenko, 1-6 3-6. She then failed to qualify for two consecutive tier I events before losing in the first round of qualifying for the French Open when she was beaten by Elise Tamaela, 7-5 2-6 1-6. In June, three consecutive wild cards granted her entry into the main draws of the DFS Classic, the Hastings Direct International and Wimbledon where she was beaten by Milagros Sequera in the second round (after beating Alona Bondarenko in the first), Conchita Martinez in round one[21] and Sabine Klaschka in the first round respectively. Following Wimbledon, Elena traveled to the ITF circuit in the United States without much success; she won only one of five matches she played in the run-up to the US Open qualifying draw where she also lost in the first round of qualifying. She then returned to the ITF circuit and reached the quarterfinals of the $25,000 event in Glasgow, the semifinals of the $25,000 event in Bolton and won the $25,000 tournament in Jersey. Her year-end singles ranking for the 2005 season was world No.122.[8] [edit] 2006For Elena, 2006 was a year much shortened by injury. Her first tournament of the year was the qualifying event for the Australian Open where she lost to Yuan Meng, 2-6 4-6, at the second stage of qualifying. In February she played one $25,000 ITF event (where she lost to Melanie South in the first round) and attempted to qualify for three consecutive tier II tournaments: Antwerp, Dubai (beaten in final round by Kateryna Bondarenko)[22][23] and Qatar. This was then followed by two first round losses in $25,000 ITF tournaments and a run to the semifinals of another. In May she again represented Great Britain in the Fed Cup and again won all three of her singles matches. She beat: Hungarian, Kyra Nagy, Bulgaria's Dimana Krastevitch and Valeria Bondarenko from Ukraine. In the Europe/Africa play-off however, she lost to Slovakia's, Magdaléna Rybáriková. After the Fed Cup, Elena played only one more tournament in 2006. This tournament was the French Open where she lost in round one of qualifying to Yevgenia Savransky, 7-6(7) 2-6 2-6. She underwent keyhole surgery on a prolapsed disc on the 7th June and spent the rest of the season out-of-action recovering[24] and as a result, her season-ending ranking was world No.347.[8] [edit] 2007By the time Elena returned to action in March 2007 after surgery on a prolapsed disc, her singles ranking had fallen to 660 in the world and as such, she had to qualify for her first $25,000 ITF tournament of the year in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. She successfully qualified before losing to Sorana Cirstea, 3-6 6-3 6-7(1), in the first round. She competed in two more $25,000 events in March (reaching the quarterfinals of one) before heading to Bulgaria to compete in the Fed Cup for Britain. She played two singles matches (winning one) and four doubles matches (winning two). Following this she reached two consecutive $25,000 ITF semifinals in Incheon and Gimcheon, one as a qualifier and the other as a lucky loser. She consolidated these results with a run to the quarterfinals of another $25,000 in Changwon. In June she received a wild card into the main draw of the DFS Classic where she showed "fighting spirit" in her first round loss to Milagros Sequera.[25] She then received a wild card into the qualifying draw for the Hastings Direct International and proved she deserved it by dropping only nine games in the three matches she won to successfully qualify. She then went on to beat the British No.1, Anne Keothavong, in round one of the main draw in a tense three set match, 6-2 2-6 7-6(5), and join fellow Brits, Melanie South and Katie O'Brien in the second round, making this the first year since 1991 that three British women reached the second round.[26] She couldn't quite match up to world No.14, Nicole Vaidisova, in the second round though; Elena was beaten, 3-6 2-6.[27] She then received another wild card into the main draw of Wimbledon but wasn't able to overcome the 19th seed, Katarina Srebotnik, and lost 6-7(4) 6-3 2-6.[28] After Wimbledon, Elena headed to the United States to compete again on the ITF circuit where she reached the quarterfinals of the $50,000 event in Lexington. After being beaten in the first round of qualifying for the US Open by Evgeniya Rodina (2-6 4-6), Elena headed to Japan to attempt to qualify for the Japan Open. She beat Maria-Emilia Salerni, Agnes Szatmari and Natalie Grandin to qualify and then continued winning by defeating Yan Zi, 2-6 6-2 6-4, in the first round. She was defeated by No.5 seed and eventual champion, Virginie Razzano, in round 2 with a score of 2-6 2-6. This was followed by an unsuccessful attempt to qualify for a tier III event in Bangkok and then a return to the ITF circuit where she reached the semifinals in Makinohara and the quarterfinals in Hamanako (both $25,000), losing both times to Japan's, Seiko Okamoto. Her final singles ranking of 2007 was world No.187.[8] [edit] 2008Baltacha began her 2008 season by qualifying for the ASB Classic, beating compatriot, Melanie South, along the way. She faced two-time ASB Classic champion and No.7 seed, Eleni Danilidou, in the opening round and was beaten decisively, 1-6 2-6. She then progressed to round two of the qualifying tournament for the Australian Open when her opponent, Virginie Pichet, retired when down one set.[29] She was beaten in the second round of qualifying by Zhang Shuai, 4-6 1-6.[30] In February she tried to qualify for Doha (tier I) and Dubai (WTA Tier II Events|tier II) but was unsuccessful in both. She then returned to action on the ITF circuit and won her next two consecutive tournaments: Jersey ($25,000) and Torhout ($75,000). In May she again lost in the first round of the qualifying tournament for the French Open and in June she again received a wild card into the main draw of the DFS Classic where she was beaten in round one by Ekaterina Makarova, 5-7 6-7(1). Another wild card granted her entry into the qualifying rounds of the International Women's Open where she won her first match against Naomi Cavaday before retiring at one set down in her second match against Tsvetana Pironkova. She then played in the main draw of Wimbledon (again courtesy of a wild card) where she beat Angelique Kerber, 6-3 2-6 7-5 in the first round.[31] She was defeated in the second round by China's eventual semifinalist, Zheng Jie in straight sets, 2-6 5-7.[32] Elena then lost three consecutive matches before defeating Anna Korzeniak and Carly Gullickson in the first two rounds of qualifying for the US Open. She fell just short of reaching the main draw when she lost to Julie Coin, 5-7 6-2 6-7(4), in the final round of qualifying. She played seven more higher-level ITF tournaments over the rest of the year and reached the quarterfinals in one of them: the $50,000 event in Ismaning where she lost to Julia Goerges.[8] [edit] 2009Elena's first tournament of 2009 was the ASB Classic where she lost to Ekaterina Dzehalevich from Belarus in the first round of qualifying, 6-0 6-3. She then headed to the Australian Open qualifying tournament as the No.19 seed where she beat Anastasija Sevastova (6-3 6-4), Carly Gullickson (5-7 6-0 6-0) and top seed Jelena Kostanic Tosic (6-1 6-3) to set up a first round clash with former world number 14 Anna-Lena Grönefeld. With Katie O'Brien also successfully qualifying and Anne Keothavong and Melanie South reaching the main draw on merit, this put a total of 4 British women in the main draw; the first time this had happened in a Grand Slam other than Wimbledon since the 1992 U.S. Open,[33][34] when Clare Wood qualified and joined Jo Durie, Monique Javer and Sara Gomer in the main draw. Elena beat Grönefeld, 6-1 6-4, in the first round becoming the only one of the four British women to reach the second round (O'Brien, Keothavong and South were beaten by Monica Niculescu, Anna Chakvetadze and Marion Bartoli respectively) and setting up a battle with former world No.1 and Grand Slam champion, Amelie Mauresmo.[35] Despite winning the first set, Baltacha went on to lose the match 4-6 6-3 6-2.[36] In April, Elena was the No.1 seed in the $75,000 ITF tournament in Monzón. She beat Lenka Tvaroskova in the first round to give her the 200th singles victory of her career. In round two she beat compatriot Naomi Cavaday before falling in the quarterfinals to the sixth seed, former world No.4, Kimiko Date-Krumm in a close three-setter, 7-5 4-6 6-7(4). In late April, seeded number 2, Baltacha went on to reach the final of the $25,000 event in Changwon, without losing a set in the whole tournament. She faced the No.6 seed Junri Namigata in the final and won, 6-3 6-1, to give her the sixth ITF singles title of her career.[37] Although Baltacha would have most probably qualified by right for Wimbledon, based on WTA rankings, she was handed a wildcard, and faced world number 33, Alona Bondarenko. Despite a difference in ranking of 72 places, Baltacha fought back from a set down to win in 3-6 6-3 6-4. She went on to face world number 110, Kirsten Flipkens, a player she had beaten twice previously, however, Baltacha could not find the strength to beat her, despite starting the first set extremely strongly, losing in straight sets 7-5 6-1. Elena suffered some painful losses in Stanford and Los Angeles in the beginning of the American Hardcourt season. Losing to Stephanie Foretz and Lindsey Nelson having held match points in both. Baltacha then lost in the 1st round Qualifying at Cincinnati to Japan's Ayumi Morita 7-5 6-2. Elena then played at the Premier Event in Toronto, the Rogers Cup. She beat World Number 50 Anna-Lena-Groenefeld 2-6 7-5 6-3 and German Number 20 seed Kristina Barrois 7-6(7) 6-2 to qualify for a Tier 1 Event for the first time. She faced Kim Clijsters, in her 2nd comeback tournament, and lost in straight sets. Elena Baltacha entered the 2009 US Open qualifying tournament as the number 2 seed. In the first round she comfortably beat Betina Jozami of Argentina 6-1 6-1. She then went on to face Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic. Despite trailing 5-2 in the first set, Baltacha came back to win the next 11 consecutive games, to win the match 7-5 6-0. She went on to face the number 30 seed, Anastasia Rodionova, of Australia. Despite starting quite confidently, Baltacha lost 4-6 6-4 6-2. Baltacha won the ITF Aegon Pro tournament in Shrewsbury, UK on 26 September 2009, defeating fellow Briton Katie O'Brien 6-3 4-6 6-3, pushing her (and O'Brien) into the women's top 100 for the first time. [38] After her victory in Shrewsbury, and subsequent break into the top 100, Baltacha played the £100k tournament in Athens, Greece. In the first round she faced world number 89, Akgul Amanmuradova, who Baltacha beat 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(4). This resulted in a subsequent scheduled match against number 1 seed, and world number 55, Petra Kvitova, however, Baltacha had to withdraw, due to a contraction of food poisoning. [edit] WTA tour and ITF circuit titles (11)
[edit] Singles (7)
[edit] Doubles (4)
[edit] WTA tour and ITF circuit runner-up (6)
[edit] Singles (2)
[edit] Doubles (4)
[edit] Grand Slam performance timeline
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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