Former Weil Player Sesil Karatancheva finishes 2005 ranked #35 WTA!

Former Weil student, Sesil Karatancheva, who trained at the Weil Academy for 2 years, had an impressive first year on the WTA Tour in 2005 as she notched wins over #9 Venus Williams and #10 Nadia Petrova, reached the Quarterfinals of the French Open and finished the year ranked #35 WTA! While training at Weil in 2001 and 2002, Sesil won her first major International Title by winning the Girls 12s Orange Bowl over Russian Alyssa Kleybonov. In 2004, Sesil won the Jr. French Open and was ranked #1 ITF.

Sesil’s record in 13 WTA tournaments this year was 14-13 as she also notched wins over several Top 100 Players including: #38 Shinobu Asaqoe (twice), #42Vera Zvonareva, #47 Jill Craybas, #66 Megan Shaughnessy, #74 Mashona Washington, #76 Lisa Raymond, and #93 Emmanuelle Gagliardi.

Sesil took tough losses to some of the world’s best but learned valuable experience as well. Sesil lost matches at the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open to: Lindsey Davenport, Maria Sharapova, and Amelie Mauresmo. At other top WTA tournaments in 2005, Sesil lost close matches to Elena Dementieva, Nadia Petrova, Patty Schnyder and Elena Likhovtseva.

In 2006, Sesil’s goal is to finish ranked in the Top 10 WTA and to reach the quarters or better in all the Grand Slam tournaments.

Weil Head Coach Dimitar Yazadhiev of Bulgaria, who has coached Karatancheva since she was 9 yrs old, isn’t all that surprised by the teenager’s results. “I knew Sesil could have this kind of success—she was ultra competitive from a young age. I could see she had talent and now her talent is really showing through. I am very happy for her and wish her more success.”

Back to Headline News...