Athlete of the Week
Ana Bogdan has obtained the best Romanian performance this week
Florin Orban, 26.09.2023, 13:45
Romania now boasts three athletes among the world’s first 100 tennis
players. The best ranking at present is Sorana Cirstea, currently on the 26th
position, followed by Ana Bogdan who comes 61st and Irina Begu on
the 66th position. Sorana has gone down a notch since last week and
Irina five whereas Bogdan has gone up ten positions thanks to her winning of
the WTA 125 tournament in Parma, a performance, which also brought her the
Athlete of the Week title granted weekly to the best Romanian performance by
our radio station.
Ana Bogdan last year stopped in the semifinals of the Parma Ladies Open
but this edition was second-seeded. She defeated Spanish Marina Bassols Ribera
in the first round 6-1, 7-5, then Ukrainian Katarina Zavatska in three sets,
4-6, 6-2, 6-4. She also clinched a three-set win against her compatriot
Jaqueline Cristian 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 in the quarter-finals. In the semifinals, the
Romanian managed to outperform Hungarian challenger Anna Bondar 6-3, 6-4 in a match
that lasted two hours and 40 minutes, the longest she played in Parma. The
Romanian eventually managed to secure a 7-5, 6-1 victory against Anna Karolina
Schmiedlova of Slovakia in the finals.
Ana Bogdan was born on November 25th 1992 in Sinaia, southern
Romania, and turned professional in 2007. Two years later she went second in
the world junior ranking. She made constant headway in the WTA ranking until
2008. She stayed around the 100th position for a while but in 2022
and 2023 she succeeded in getting higher into the ranking. In July this year
she occupied the 39th position, the best in her career so far and
she’s still waiting for her first WTA title. She has so far achieved three WTA
125 titles, in Iasi in 2022 and 2023 and now in Parma.
(bill)
