ELENA BALTACHA

{{Infobox Tennis biography
| playername = Elena Baltacha
| image =
| country =
| residence = Enfield, Middlesex, England
| datebirth =
| placebirth = Kiev, Ukraine
| height = 5ft 7 (172cm)
| weight =
| turnedpro = 1998
| plays = Right-handed, Double-handed backhand
| careerprizemoney = $281,326
| singlesrecord = 160-127
| singlestitles = (3 ITF)
| highestsinglesranking = No.118 (March 7 2005)
| AustralianOpenresult = 3rd Round {2005}
| FrenchOpenresult =
| Wimbledonresult = 3rd Round {2002}
| USOpenresult =
| doublesrecord = 52-47
| doublestitles = 4 ITF
| highestdoublesranking = No.213 (October 17 2005
| updated = 22nd August 2007
}}
'Elena Baltacha' (Ukrainian: 'Олена Балтача'; is a Ukrainian-born tennis player who has played for Great Britain ^{[1] [2]}and Scotland^[3][4]. She is currently the British number 5 and ranked 244 in the world, as of 22nd August 2007.
Baltacha was born August 14, 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 and St Johnstone, and her mother Olga represented the USSR in both the pentathlon and heptathlon at the Olympic Games. Her brother Sergei played football for Scottish Football League First Division team St Mirren of Paisley and for Millwall.
Currently living in Enfield, London, England, with her mother, she practices 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. The club has seven outside courts and three indoor tennis courts and three squash (sport) courts.
After arriving at Heathrow Airport on January 13, 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. The British No. 1 tennis player reached her highest world ranking in March 2005, when she was ranked 118 overall. Most of her career so far has been plagued by injury. The 2006 Wimbledon Tournament was no different as she was forced to pull out of the main women's draw. The following year she lost in the first round but took the second set of the match in doing so. Many critics believe that her vulnerability to injury has hampered her claim to become a major player on the tennis circuit.

Contents

Titles

2007

Grand Slam Performance Timeline

References

External links

Titles

'Singles'

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in final	Score
1.	July 2002	ITF Pamplona $25000	Hard	Virginia Pichet	6-2 6-1
2.	July 2002	ITF Felixstowe $25000	Grass	Kelly Liggan	4-6 6-2 6-3
3.	October 2005	ITF Jersey $25000	Hard	Daniella Kix	6-4 6-4

'Doubles'

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner
1.	July 2002	ITF Valladolid $25,000	Hard	Natacha Madriantefy
2.	July 2002	ITF Pamplona $25,000	Hard	Kelly Liggan
3.	October 2004	ITF Sunderland $25000	Hard	Jane O’Donoghue
4.	September2005	ITF Glasgow $25000	Carpet	Margit Ruutel

2007

After keyhole surgery in 2006 on a prolapsed back, Elena Baltacha returned in March with her ranking at 660 in the world. Quietly, Elena Baltacha worked her way back into form and to 248. This came from solid success in ITF tournaments and a significant achievement at the International Women's Open in Eastbourne reaching the last 16 from qualifying, defeating compatriot Anne Keothavong in the 1st round of the main draw, then falling to Nicole Vaidisova (ranked 14) 6-3 6-2.
At Wimbledon Baltacha entered by wild card, she lost in the first round to Katarina Srebotnik. Though it was a competitive match with the first set going to a tie break, Elena fought back to take the second. In the end Katarina's form and considerable experience told, and she defeated Baltacha 7-6(4) 3-6 6-2.
She reached the quarter finals at $50000 Lexington ITF tournament, losing to 7th seed Julie Ditty. Then she was defeated at the $75000 Washington ITF tournament in the first round by 2nd seed Olga Savchuk in three sets 3-6 6-3 6-4. Despite this Elena Baltacha's ranking rose to 245th in the world. Elena Blatacha then failed to qualify fot the $50,000 ITF Bronxs but continued her rise up the rankings to 244.
An early loss in the US Open qualifying to Evgeniya Rodina in straight sets 6-2 6-4, was dissapointing though Rodina was ranked nearly 100 places above her.

Grand Slam Performance Timeline

tournament	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Career Win Loss
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	3R	A	A	2-2
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0-0
Wimbledon	A	A	A	1R	3R	1R	2R	1R	A	1R	3-6
U.S. Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0-0

★ A stands for any tournament the player did not participate in

References

1. Baltacha: Britain's big hope
2. Player profile Elena Baltacha
3. "The teams for the 2006 Aberdeen Cup are: Scotland - Andy Murray, Jamie Murray, Elena Baltacha and a leading Scottish Boy and Girl", Aberdeen Cup 2006, Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre
4. "Scotland's Elena Baltacha was denied a dream clash with..." ''The Scotsman'', 17 January 2005

External links

★

★ Articles regarding Baltacha at ''The Scotsman'' newspaper

★ [1]Lta player proflie