Bulgarian tennis starlet Karatantcheva back from record drugs ban

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Never been one to mince words when it comes to her tennis ambitions, Sesil Karatantcheva is letting her racquet do the talking as she.seeks to revive her career following a record two-year drugs ban.

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.

"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 Bulgarian 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 dollar 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 dollars.

"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 quarter-finalist 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."

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