Elena Baltacha Great Britain Female Tennis Player Profile 2012

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Elena Baltacha Great Britain Female Tennis Player Profile 2012

Name: Elena Baltacha
Country: Great Britain
Residence: Ipswich, Suffolk, England
Born: 14 August 1983 (age 28)
Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height: 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro: 1997
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money: $986,510

Baltacha began 2012 playing at the ASB Classic she won her first round match against wild card and home favorite Sacha Jones in a hard fought three set encounter 6–2, 4–6, 6–3. She eventually lost in the second round in straight sets to Flavia Pennetta 4–6, 2–6. This was followed by a first round loss in the Australian Open to Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6–2 6–4.

Baltacha was selected for the GB Federation Cup Team to play in the Europe/Africa Group 1 match at Eilat, Israel on 1–4 Feb 2012. In the group stages she played singles, defeating opponents from Portugal, The Netherlands and Israel in the group stages.The team qualified for a play-off against Austria in which Baltacha defeated Tamira Paszek 6–1, 6–4 despite Paszel being ranked 9 places higher than Baltacha at the time. The team won 2-0, which qualified them for a place in the World Group II promotion play-off in April 2012.