106 Facts About Elena Baltacha

Elena Sergeevna Baltacha was a Ukrainian-born British professional tennis player.

Elena Baltacha's career-high ranking of world No 49 was achieved in September 2010.

Elena Baltacha was a runner-up in three ITF events in singles and four in doubles.

In 2010, Baltacha had victories over top 10-players, including two victories over Li Na and one against Francesca Schiavone, who at the time was the reigning French Open champion.

In 2011, Elena Baltacha won her highest ranked tournament on the ITF Circuit, the Nottingham Challenge.

Elena Baltacha was diagnosed with liver cancer in January 2014, just a few weeks after her marriage to tennis coach Nino Severino.

Elena Baltacha died from the disease on 4 May 2014 at the age of 30.

Elena Baltacha played her first match on the ITF Junior Circuit in February 1997 and her last at the 2001 US Open junior tournament.

Elena Baltacha 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.

Elena Baltacha reached the semifinals of three tournaments and the quarterfinals of six others.

Elena Baltacha lost in the semifinal stages of tournaments four times and the quarterfinals eight times.

In November 1997, Elena Baltacha 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.

Elena Baltacha did however reach the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament.

Elena Baltacha played only three adult ITF tournaments in 1998 and lost in the qualifying stages for each of them.

Elena Baltacha competed in four tournaments in total and reached the quarterfinals of the $10k tournament in Glasgow.

Elena Baltacha was given a wildcard into the qualifying draw of her home Grand Slam, Wimbledon, where Flavia Pennetta beat her in three sets.

Elena Baltacha followed this up with a run to the semifinals of the $25k event in Surbiton.

Elena Baltacha was then given a wildcard into the qualifying draw for the Tier-II Eastbourne International where she beat Virginie Razzano, in the final round of qualifying to reach the main draw.

Elena Baltacha was beaten by Nathalie Dechy in round one.

Elena Baltacha ended the year with a singles ranking of world No 248.

In February 2002, Elena Baltacha reached the quarterfinals of the $25k tournament in Sutton, London.

Elena Baltacha then beat Lina Stanciute from Lithuania in the relegation play-offs in three sets.

Elena Baltacha broke this string of losses with a win over Alina Jidkova in round one of the qualifying draw for the Tier-II Eastbourne International.

Elena Baltacha was beaten by Elena Likhovtseva in the second round of qualifying.

Elena Baltacha was then given a wildcard into the main draw of Wimbledon where she beat Maria Vento-Kabchi in the first round and Amanda Coetzer in the second before losing to Likhovtseva in the third round.

Elena Baltacha played two more $25k tournaments after the US Open, Glasgow and Southampton, where she reached the semifinals and quarterfinals, respectively.

Elena Baltacha's season ending ranking for 2002 was world No 157.

Elena Baltacha was then awarded another wild card; this one into the qualifying draw of the Tier II Eastbourne International where she was beaten by Virginie Razzano.

Elena Baltacha returned to action in January 2004, reaching the semifinals of her first two ITF tournaments of the year.

Elena Baltacha 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 and Monica Niculescu, respectively.

Elena Baltacha then headed to Wimbledon main draw courtesy of another wildcard.

Elena Baltacha demolished world No 61, Marta Marrero, in round one before falling to three-time Grand Slam champion, Jennifer Capriati, in the second round.

Elena Baltacha spent the remainder of her year competing on the ITF Circuit and her year-end singles ranking rose to world No 202.

Unfortunately for Elena Baltacha, she ran out of steam in the third round, losing to No 15 seed, Silvia Farina Elia.

Elena Baltacha used her momentum from her good performance in the first Grand Slam event of the year to carry her to the semifinals of her next tournament, a $25k event in Sunderland where she lost to Sofia Arvidsson.

Elena Baltacha again played for Great Britain in the Fed Cup.

Elena Baltacha lost her singles rubber against Ana Timotic from Serbia, won her singles rubber against Karina-Ildor Jacobsgaard and was demolished in her third singles rubber against Katarina Srebotnik in retribution for her first round Australian Open exit.

Elena Baltacha then failed to qualify for two consecutive Tier-I events before losing in the first round of qualifying for the French Open when she lost to Elise Tamaela.

Elena Baltacha then returned to the ITF Circuit and reached the quarterfinals of the $25k event in Glasgow, the semifinals of the $25k event in Bolton and won the $25k tournament in Jersey.

For Elena Baltacha, 2006 was a year much shortened by injury.

Elena Baltacha beat: Hungarian Kyra Nagy, Bulgaria's Dimana Krastevitch, and Valeria Bondarenko from Ukraine.

Elena Baltacha played two singles matches and four doubles matches.

Elena Baltacha consolidated these results with a run to the quarterfinals of another $25k in Changwon.

Elena Baltacha then received a wildcard 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 qualify.

Elena Baltacha then went on to beat the British number one, Anne Keothavong, in round one of the main draw in a tense three set match and join fellow Britons, 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.

Elena Baltacha then received another wildcard into the main draw of Wimbledon but wasn't able to overcome the 19th seed, Katarina Srebotnik.

Elena Baltacha beat Maria Emilia Salerni, Agnes Szatmari and Natalie Grandin to qualify and then continued winning by defeating Yan Zi in the first round.

Elena Baltacha was defeated by No 5 seed and eventual champion, Virginie Razzano, in round two.

Elena Baltacha began her 2008 season by qualifying for the Auckland Open, beating compatriot, Melanie South, along the way.

Elena Baltacha faced two-time Auckland champion and No 7 seed, Eleni Daniilidou, in the opening round and was beaten.

Elena Baltacha then progressed to round two of the qualifying tournament for the Australian Open when her first round opponent, Virginie Pichet, retired when down one set.

Elena Baltacha was beaten in the second round of qualifying by Zhang Shuai.

Elena Baltacha then returned to action on the ITF Circuit and won her next two consecutive tournaments: Jersey and Torhout.

Elena Baltacha then played in the main draw of Wimbledon where she beat Angelique Kerber in the first round.

Elena Baltacha was defeated in the second round by eventual semifinalist Zheng Jie, in straight sets.

Elena Baltacha then lost three consecutive matches before defeating Anna Korzeniak and Carly Gullickson in the first two rounds of qualifying for the US Open.

Elena Baltacha fell just short of reaching the main draw when she lost to Julie Coin in the final round of qualifying.

Elena Baltacha played seven more higher-level ITF tournaments over the rest of the year and reached the quarterfinals in one of them: the $50k event in Ismaning where she lost to Julia Gorges.

Elena Baltacha began 2009 by falling in the first round of qualifying for the Auckland Open before winning three matches to qualify for the Australian Open.

Elena Baltacha joined compatriots Katie O'Brien, Anne Keothavong and Melanie South in the main draw; the first time that four British women had competed in the main draw of a Grand Slam other than Wimbledon since the 1992 US Open.

Elena Baltacha came up against German Anna-Lena Gronefeld in the first round and defeated her comfortably to set up a clash with former world No 1, Amelie Mauresmo.

Elena Baltacha beat Georgie Stoop in the first round before falling in an epic three-set battle with the then world No 27, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Elena Baltacha received a wildcard into the main draw of Wimbledon where she came up against world No 33, Alona Bondarenko, in the first round.

Elena Baltacha managed to come back from a set down to win in three sets.

Elena Baltacha then went on to lose to Kirsten Flipkens in round two.

Elena Baltacha faced former world No 1, Kim Clijsters, in the second tournament of her comeback and lost to the Belgian in straight sets.

Elena Baltacha beat fellow Brit, Katie O'Brien, in the final.

Elena Baltacha began her 2010 season by winning three matches to qualify for the Auckland Open in New Zealand.

Elena Baltacha then went on to win another three matches to qualify for the Hobart International before again losing in the first round, this time to resurgent former world No 4, Jelena Dokic.

In round two, Elena Baltacha defeated the 30th seed from Ukraine, Kateryna Bondarenko, but she was beaten in the round of 32 by Dinara Safina, the world No 2.

Elena Baltacha played two singles matches, losing against Sybille Bammer and defeating Sandra Martinovic from the Austria team and the Bosnia and Herzegovina team, respectively.

Elena Baltacha partnered Sarah Borwell in two doubles matches, winning both.

Elena Baltacha then went on to compete in the Cellular South Cup as the eighth seed.

Elena Baltacha reached the quarterfinals before losing to the top seed and eventual champion, Maria Sharapova.

Elena Baltacha stayed on grass for her next tournament, the Birmingham Classic, where she was the number 12 seed.

Elena Baltacha was forced to retire after losing the first set in her first round match against Kaia Kanepi.

Elena Baltacha was beaten by Andrea Petkovic in the quarterfinals.

Elena Baltacha then lost four of her next five matches before participating in the main draw of the US Open for the first time in her career.

Elena Baltacha managed to exact some revenge by beating Petra Martic in round one however she lost to Petra Kvitova in the second round.

Elena Baltacha competed in four more tournaments that year, reaching the second round of the Korea Open and a $100k in Torhout but losing in the qualifying rounds of the Pan Pacific Open and the Kremlin Cup.

Elena Baltacha began the year at the Hobart International, but lost to Roberta Vinci in the second round.

Elena Baltacha then entered the Australian Open without having to qualify.

Elena Baltacha lost in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships to Alexandra Dulgheru.

Elena Baltacha then lost in the second round of qualifying at the Qatar Ladies Open to Klara Zakopalova.

An improvement on the previous years disappointment, Elena Baltacha reached the second round of Wimbledon by a victory over Mona Barthel.

Elena Baltacha failed to progress losing to the 20th seed, Peng Shuai.

Elena Baltacha went on to enter the qualifying draw of the Cincinnati Open, but despite being seeded tenth, she lost in the first round against Olga Govortsova.

Elena Baltacha then went on to the inaugural Texas Tennis Open.

Elena Baltacha managed first and second round wins over Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova and third seed Julia Gorges before a quarterfinal loss to Aravane Rezai.

Elena Baltacha lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round.

Elena Baltacha won her first-round match against wildcard and home favourite Sacha Jones in a hard-fought three set encounter but lost in the second round in straight sets to Flavia Pennetta.

At the French Open, Elena Baltacha faced a tough first round match against US Open champion Sam Stosur on the first match at Court Philippe Chatrier of the Open.

Elena Baltacha did however have a better run at Wimbledon, making the second round but lost to the previous year's champion Petra Kvitova in straight sets.

Elena Baltacha competed at the Summer Olympics in London for the first time in her career in both the singles and the doubles events.

On 28 July 2012, Elena Baltacha made her Olympics debut with a win against Agnes Szavay of Hungary, defeating her in straight sets.

Elena Baltacha was then defeated by 11th seed Ana Ivanovic in the second round in a very tight encounter.

Elena Baltacha's first tournament back after surgery was a $25k tournament in Pelham, Alabama, where she was a direct entrant into the main draw.

An illness to Heather Watson meant that Elena Baltacha made British Fed Cup World Group II play-off team to face Argentina.

Elena Baltacha replaced Johanna Konta to play one of the singles rubbers on the final day of the play-off.

Laura Robson's defeat in the third rubber meant that Elena Baltacha had to gain a victory over Maria Irigoyen.

Elena Baltacha was handed a wildcard at the Brussels Open a week before Roland Garros.

At the French Open, Elena Baltacha used her protected rankings points to earn a place in the first round.

Elena Baltacha was beaten in straight sets by Marina Erakovic.

Elena Baltacha reached her first final of 2013 at the Nottingham Challenge following an impressive straight-sets victory over Italian Nastassja Burnett in the semifinals.

Elena Baltacha followed this success with a victory in the first round of the Birmingham Classic against Czech qualifier Kristyna Pliskova.

Elena Baltacha was eliminated in the second round by Maria Kirilenko.