Sesil Karatantcheva

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 Grand Slam match (again as a qualifier) at the Australian Open. She then lost in the second round to Peng Shuai. This was to be her last main tournament playing for Bulgaria until 2015.

Karatantcheva made her 2014 debut at the Hobart International, losing in the first round of qualifying to Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck. At the Australian Open, she was seeded 22nd in the qualifying draw and lost there in the first round to Duan Yingying in straight sets. For Kazakhstan in 2014 Fed Cup in the Group I final position play-off, Karatantcheva played Liu Fangzhou 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, and then traveled to Brazil to compete at the Rio Open and Brasil Tennis Cup. In Rio, she fell in the qualifying competition to Verónica Cepede Royg. In Florianopolis, however, she was more successful with qualifying wins over world No. 95 Anabel Medina Garrigues and Alexandra Panova, the latter match lasting over three hours. Her run was ended in the first round by Kiki Bertens.

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 Georgi Dolmov in November 2017.

She returned at the WTA Palermo, where she qualified for the main draw. She drew second seed Roberta Vinci in the first round. Although Karatantcheva played well she was beaten in straight sets. She then competed in two $100k events – in Bucharest and Astana, losing in the early round of both tournaments.

Karatantcheva began the year ranked World No. 139. She failed to qualify in Brisbane and at the Australian Open. She then competed in the $100,000 tournament in Cali. Unseeded, she advanced to the semifinals before losing to Mandy Minella. She then played at the Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas and Monterrey Open. 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. Although she put up a fight, Sesil was defeated by 6th seed Johanna Larsson 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 BNP Paribas Open and the Sony Ericsson 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.

Karatantcheva began the season at the Australian Open, losing to 6th seed Li Na in the first round. She next played for Kazakhstan in Fed Cup. Placed in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I in Astana, Karatantcheva played with Galina Voskoboeva to beat Rutuja Bhosale and Ankita Raina, securing Kazakhstan's 3–0 sweep over India. Following Kazakhstan's win over Thailand, they defeated Uzbekistan 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, losing in the quarterfinals to Catalina Castaño in three sets. She then lost in Memphis qualifying before losing to Francesca Schiavone in the second round at Acapulco. Karatantcheva then qualified for the BNP Paribas Open, but lost to Lara Arruabarrena in the first round. At the Sony Open, she entered the qualifying draw and defeated Anastasia Rodionova 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. Karatantcheva closed the hard court season with a first round loss in Osprey to Olga Puchkova.

The new season began with a disappointment at Brisbane, where she lost in the first round of the qualifying draw. She played at Sydney, 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. Karatantcheva did not manage to reach the main draw of the 2016 French Open, losing to Maryna Zanevska 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, 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 in another three-setter match.

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. After not participating in the qualifying competitions for the French Open and Wimbledon, 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. In September 2017, Karatantcheva won the title at the Red Rock Pro Open in Las Vegas, defeating compatriot Elitsa Kostova in the final by a score of 6–4, 4–6, 7–5.

Karatantcheva participated in the qualifying competition for the Australian Open, but had to exit in the first round after losing 5–7, 6–3, 5–7 to Irina Bara. She was also eliminated in the earliest possible stage at the qualifying tournament for the French Open, being on the receiving end of a 1–6, 6–2, 2–6 loss against Ons Jabeur. The negative trend continued in her first qualifying match for Wimbledon, in which she emerged second best to Mayo Hibi 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.

After skipping the first week of the US Open Series, Karatantcheva entered the Southern California Open in Carlsbad. She played the qualifying draw and won three consecutive matches against Chieh-yu Hsu, Katalin Marosi, and Ivana Lisjak 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, 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 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.

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 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.

She opened her grass-court season at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham. She entered the qualifying draw and defeated local girl Francesca Stephenson, but fell to Thailand's Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 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. Despite the loss, her ranking climbed due to her improved result from 2011.

On 10 January 2009, it was announced that Karatantcheva would take Kazakh citizenship and compete for the Kazakhstan Fed Cup team. She did not participate in Fed Cup competitions for Kazakhstan during 2009.

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.

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 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.

She has won seven singles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. 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, upsetting seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams en route. The same year, she twice tested positive for nandrolone and was therefore issued a two-year suspension. She returned to professional competition in January 2008.

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 before falling in the quarterfinals. She then qualified for the Australian Open, 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 in the second round, and then stunned the world with her victory over the No. 11 seed and former world number one Venus Williams in the third round. After defeating Emmanuelle Gagliardi, she fell to Likhovtseva in the quarterfinals. Karatantcheva became the youngest female to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament since Martina Hingis in 1996. At Wimbledon, 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.

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 in her system. Karatantcheva has denied all allegations, saying "I am shocked. I have not appeared before judges of the international federation."

Karatantcheva then played at the Bank of the West Classic. She fell in the first round of qualifying. She then qualified for the Premier-level Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad. She was points away from winning, but was finally beaten by Melinda Czink in the first round. She then competed at the second annual Citi Open in Washington, D.C. She lost to American Sloane Stephens in the first round. She then continued her hard-court season at the Rogers Cup 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, without losing a single game, in only 43 minutes. Karatantcheva lost to 16th seed Lucie Šafářová 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 and Olga Govortsova. In the first round of the main draw, she won against fellow qualifier Kiki Bertens, 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 in the first round.

Following the US Open, Karatantcheva competed in Québec and Seoul, losing in the first round of both tournaments. She continued by then losing in the qualifying draw of the next four events in Tokyo, Beijing, Linz, and Moscow. Her final tournament of the year was in Phoenix, where she was the defending champion and second seed. She suffered a shock straight set loss to world No. 217 Shelby Rogers 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.

Sesil Karatantcheva debuted for the Bulgaria Fed Cup team in 2004, winning her singles match in the tie against the Estonia Fed Cup team. Between 2010 and 2014 she competed for the Kazakhstan Fed Cup team. 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.

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 olos, 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 in the first, and upset the 17th seed Magüi Serna in the second round. In an interview prior to her match against 16th seed Maria Sharapova, 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. 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 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.

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 in the final. Early in her playing days, she trained for approximately six months at the famous IMG Academy of Nick Bollettieri.

Karatancheva's first tournament of the year was the ASB Classic, where she has started from qualifications, losing in the third round of the qualifying competition to Urszula Radwańska after previously defeating two opponents. Karatancheva failed to qualify to the Australian Open, after losing in the second qualifying round to Alexandra Panova. In February Karatantcheva participated at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, where she started from qualifications. She was defeated in straight sets in the third qualifying round by Lucie Hradecká, but nonetheless reached the main tournament as a lucky loser. Karatantcheva then eliminated Marie Bouzková, Kiki Bertens and Monica Puig to secure herself a place in the semifinals for the second time in her career. She subsequently lost to fifth seed Timea Bacsinszky in two sets. Next, she played at Monterrey Open, where she lost in the first round of qualifications. Despite the setback, Karatantcheva was nonetheless able to stay on course towards improving her ranking by qualifying for the main phase of the BNP Paribas Open shortly after that. In the first round, she managed a two-set victory over compatriot and friend Tsvetana Pironkova. 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 then ranked No. 61, in the first round in straight sets, and losing to 21st seed Garbiñe Muguruza. Her ranking improved to 109. Next, at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, she qualified for the main draw, beating Arantxa Rus and Louisa Chirico along the way, and lost in the first round to ninth seed Samantha Stosur. At the French Open, 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 in three sets. Due to her improved ranking, Karatantcheva began directly from the main draw at the Wimbledon Championships. 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 from Switzerland.

Sesil Radoslavova Karatantcheva (Bulgarian: Сесил Радославова Каратанчева ; born 8 August 1989) is a Bulgarian tennis player.

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, where she advanced to the final, losing to 8th seed Kurumi Nara 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.