| Karatantcheva back after drug ban |
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AFP
Sesil Karatantcheva has never been one to mince words when it comes to her tennis ambitions. Like the time at Indian Wells when she accused Maria Sharapova of dodging her and then boasted she was going to “kick her butt off” when they met for the first time in the third round of the 2004 Pacific Life Open. But these days the former French Open quarterfinalist is content to let her racquet do the talking as the Bulgarian tries to revive her career following a record two-year drugs ban. "Basically this is what I'm trying to do: Just kind of clean my name, and make people like me again," the 18-year-old Karatantcheva told the Palm Beach Post earlier this month. Karatantcheva, the only women's tennis player suspended for steroids, took a step in that direction in Morocco on Monday by winning her first WTA match since November 2005. The Sofia starlet defeated Elena Baltacha of Britain 7-5 6-2 in her opening match of the Grand Prix Sar La Princesse Lalla Meryem. "Now I feel a lot more mature," Karatantcheva told the newspaper. "And I feel more ready to face whatever comes with tennis. I had a tough puberty – tattoos, earrings, I had it all. It is something you need to go through so you can move on." Since being reinstated at the beginning of the year, Karatantcheva has won back-to-back challenger tournaments. She beat American Angela Haynes 6-2 4-6 6-4 in the final of a $25,000 event in Surprise, Florida and a week later defeated third seed Sandra Kloesel 6-4 7-5 in the final of the La Quinta tournament. Her ranking has now climbed to 243 and her 2008 record sits at 31 wins and seven losses with modest earnings of just over $14,000. "Now there is more pressure," Karatantcheva said. "You were No.35 in the world, and everybody thinks you should be killing everybody. But there have been a lot of changes on the Tour. The competition has raised a lot." Karatantcheva emerged on the professional tennis scene as a brash 14 year old in 2003, winning three ITF titles. In 2004, she posted victories in the first two rounds at Indian Wells before learning she would face 14th-seeded Maria Sharapova. Karatantcheva boasted that she was looking forward to "kicking [Sharapova's] butt off". In front of a standing-room-only crowd on one of the outer courts, Sharapova beat Karatantcheva in three sets. In 2005 she gained worldwide attention with a shocking upset of Venus Williams at the French Open. She went on to become the seventh-youngest French Open quarterfinalist since the Open Era began in 1968. But less than a year later she was slapped with a two-year ban after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone. Karatantcheva maintained the positive steroid test was the result of a pregnancy, but a review panel disputed that claim. "I think every bad thing happens in people's life is a good lesson," Karatantcheva told the Post. "I learned mine. It made me stronger, so I feel better prepared for life." Haas and Kohlschreiber out of Munich |
