Çağla Büyükakçay

Çağla Büyükakçay

Çağla Büyükakçay at the 2015 Wimbledon qualifying tournament
Country (sports)	Turkey
Residence	Istanbul, Turkey
Born	28 September 1989 Adana, Turkey
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7 ^1⁄2 in)
Turned pro	2006
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$ 636,023
Singles
Career record	320–258
Career titles	1 WTA, 8 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 60 (12 September 2016)
Current ranking	No. 60 (12 September 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	Q3 (2013)
French Open	2R (2016)
Wimbledon	1R (2016)
US Open	2R (2016)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2016)
Doubles
Career record	152–135
Career titles	0 WTA, 15 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 111 (29 February 2016)
Current ranking	No. 207 (29 August 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	—
French Open	—
Wimbledon	1R (2016)
US Open	1R (2016)
Last updated on: 2 September 2016.

Çağla Büyükakçay

Medal record
Representing  Turkey
Women's Tennis
Mediterranean Games
	2013 Mersin	Singles
	2013 Mersin	Doubles
	2009 Pescara	Doubles

Çağla Büyükakçay (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʃɑjlɑ byjyˈkɑkt͡ʃɑj]; born 28 September 1989) is a Turkish tennis player.

Büyükakçay has won eight singles and fifteen doubles titles on the ITF tour in her career. In July 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No.67. Büyükakçay won her first title at her home tournament in Istanbul. On 29 February 2016, she peaked at world No. 111 in the doubles rankings.

Playing for Turkey at the Fed Cup, Büyükakçay has a win-loss record of 33–24.^[1]

Büyükakçay is also the top-ranked tennis player at Istanbul's multi-sports club Enkaspor.^[2]

She has become the first tennis player from Turkey representing in Olympics. She played at 2016 Rio Olympics.

Career

Büyükakçay did not contest many junior tournaments, only playing four before competing at the senior level. After a few aborted starts, Büyükakçay played her first professional match at a 10K ITF event in Istanbul in May 2004. Losing in the qualifying draw, she would play two more tournaments during the 2004 season. She won her first ever Fed Cup match in 2005, partnering Pemra Özgen to defeat Stephanie Pace and Stephanie Sullivan of Malta. She made her WTA debut at the 2005 İstanbul Cup, but lost to Elena Vesnina in the first round. She continued to compete in 10K and 25K ITF events for the remainder of the year.

Büyükakçay began the 2006 season in Ramat HaSharon, but fell there in qualifying to Katariina Tuohimaa. She did not win a main draw match until April, when she made it to the second round of a 10K tournament in Chennai. She again played for Turkey in Fed Cup, registering a straight-sets win over Olfa Dhaoui of Tunisia. She partnered again with Pemra Özgen, this time double bageling Sigurlaug Sigurdardottir and Iris Staub of Iceland. She reached her first singles and doubles finals simultaneously in Antalya, losing the singles final but winning the doubles with Alena Bayarchyk. She continued mainly on the ITF tour but would not reach another final until September, when she made it to the final of in Istanbul. Büyükakçay continued to gain experience during the 2007 season, recording her first ever singles title in Istanbul.

In 2008, Büyükakçay won her second singles title in Gaziantep. She proceeded to enter a mix of lower and higher-level ITF tournaments with some success, including a quarterfinal appearance at a 50K tournament in Penza, going down to Julia Glushko in a tough three-set match. She ended the season on a high, capturing the doubles title with Lucia Sainz-Pelegri in Vinaros. Büyükakçay recorded her first singles title of the 2009 season in Istanbul before returning to the city two weeks later. Having been awarded a wildcard into the 2005 İstanbul Cup, she drew Lucie Hradecká and led the Czech by a set before succumbing in three sets. She did not compete in any other WTA tournaments for the rest of the year.

Büyükakçay had an exceptional 2010 season – she remained undefeated during the Fed Cup, winning three singles matches and dropping only four games in the process. She followed up her Fed Cup success the following week, winning the biggest singles title of her career at a 25K tournament in Kharkiv. She won another 25K title in Valladolid in July before returning to Istanbul to play at the İstanbul Cup. Having bowed out in the first round to Elena Baltacha, she entered the doubles draw with Pemra Özgen and reached the semifinals. It was the first WTA-level semifinal in her career – in singles or doubles. She went on to make history when she entered the US Open qualifying draw. Although she lost in the qualifying first round, it was a major achievement in that no other Turkish woman had previously entered qualifying of a grand slam. She continued on the tour and reached another final in Esperance, losing to Sacha Jones of New Zealand. Her first 2011 tournament was the Australian Open, winning one qualifying match before going down to Corinna Dentoni. She began to combine her schedule with more WTA events but did not reach another final until July, when she lost to Garbiñe Muguruza in Caceras. At the US Open, she lost in the second round of qualifying to Mandy Minella of Luxembourg. In October, she lost in the final of a 25K ITF event in Netanya, narrowly losing to Dinah Pfizenmaier in three sets. However, she did win the doubles crown with Pemra Özgen for her fifteenth doubles title.

In 2012, Büyükakçay managed to record appearances in the finals of three 25K tournaments in Moscow, Zwevegem, and Istanbul, but lost each one to Margarita Gasparyan, Anastasija Sevastova, and Richèl Hogenkamp. She experienced more success in Fed Cup play, winning three singles and one doubles match for Turkey. Büyükakçay was in touching distance of a main-draw berth at the 2013 Australian Open, but lost in the final round of qualifying to Lesia Tsurenko in straight sets. She reached the semifinals of a 25K event in Namangan but was defeated by Oksana Kalashnikova in close three-set encounter. At the French Open, she scraped past Nastassja Burnett in the first qualifying round, but was soundly beaten in the second by Arantxa Parra Santonja. She would rebound; however, when she reached the final of another 25K tournament in Moscow the following week, finishing runner-up to young Anett Kontaveit of Estonia. She maintained her solid performance for the rest of the season, picking up doubles titles in Shrewsbury, Loughborough, Istanbul, and Ankara.

Büyükakçay experienced a shaky start to the 2014 season – suffering three-set losses to Ashleigh Barty and Kateřina Siniaková in Australia. Although she advanced to the quarterfinals at a 25K ITF event in Sunderland, she only managed to win one singles match at the Fed Cup in Hungary. She was then granted wildcards into the prestigious WTA tournaments in Doha and Dubai, but was beaten in the first round of both by Karolína Plíšková and Zhang Shuai, respectively. She began to pick up form in April, when she won her first singles title in nearly four years in Edgbaston, defeating Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier. A week later, she advanced to her first ever WTA quarterfinal in Kuala Lumpur and at the French Open, she again came close to a spot in the main draw, but was defeated in the final round of qualifying by Aleksandra Wozniak. At Wimbledon, she was beaten in the first round of qualifying and only managed to win one match during the entire grass court season.

2015

Çağla Büyükakçay at the 2015 Fed Cup

Büyükakçay made a very good start to 2015. She played her first tournament of the year in Shenzhen ,where she came through qualifying to make the main draw. She defeated Lara Arruabarrena in the first round . However, in the second round, she was defeated by former world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva in straight sets. Büyükakçay made her way to Australia, where she competed to qualify for the main draw for the 2015 Australian Open. She defeated Uzbekistan's Nigina Abduraimova and Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic, but then lost to German Tatjana Maria in the final round of qualifying in straight sets.

2016: Breakthrough and first WTA title

Büyükakçay's first tournaments were the Shenzhen Open-where she lost in the second round of qualifying to Yaroslava Shvedova-and the Australian Open-where she was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Maria Sakkari. After reaching the second round in a ITF tournament in Andrezieux-Boutheon and losing in the first round of qualifying at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Büyükakçay received a wildcard for the Qatar Open. She defeated Lucie Hradecká before upsetting No.7 seed and defending champion Lucie Safarová in straight sets. In the third round, Büyükakçay lost to Roberta Vinci.

Her next tournament was the BMW Malaysian Open, where she defeated Laura Siegemund and Kai-Chen Chang before losing to eventual finalist Eugenie Bouchard. She then played at the Miami Open where she lost in the first round of qualifying to Naomi Broady. She also lost in the first round at a ITF event in Osprey. At the Volvo Car Open, she reached the first round as a qualifier (beating Julia Boserup and Ysaline Bonaventure) where she lost to Danka Kovinic. At the Istanbul Cup, she beat Marina Melnikova, Sorana Cîrstea, Nao Hibino and Stefanie Vögele en route to her first WTA. She then avenged her loss to Kovinic, beating the Montenegrin in three sets and becoming the first Turkish woman to lift a WTA title.^[3]

Prior to the French Open, Büyükakçay reached the second round of an ITF tournament in Trnava, losing to Katerina Siniakova. At the second Grand Slam of the year, she entered as qualifier (beating Elitsa Kostova, Petra Martic and Klára Koukalová en route^[4]) and became the first Turkish woman to win a Grand Slam match by beating Aliaksandra Sasnovich in three sets.^[5] She then lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She started her grass court season at the Nottingham Open where she lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the first round. Her next three tournaments-including The Championships-also ended in early exits.

At the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Büyükakçay faced Russian Ekaterina Makarova in the first round and lost in three sets. It was the first time a Turkish woman played at the Olympics.

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) Premier (0–0) International (1–0)

Finals by surface Hard (0–0) Clay (1–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	24 April 2016	Istanbul Cup, Istanbul, Turkey	Clay	Danka Kovinić	3–6, 6–2, 6–3

Doubles: 2 (2 runners-up)

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) Tier II / Premier (0–0) Tier III, IV & V / International (0–2)

Titles by Surface Hard (0–1) Grass (0–0) Clay (0–1) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner–up	1.	13 July 2014	BRD Bucharest Open, Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Karin Knapp	Elena Bogdan Alexandra Cadanțu	4–6, 6–3, [5–10]
Runner–up	2.	26 July 2015	İstanbul Cup, Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Jelena Janković	Daria Gavrilova Elina Svitolina	7–5, 1–6, [4–10]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles 23 (8–15)

Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	21 May 2006	Antalya, Turkey	Hard	Anna Gerasimou	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	3 September 2006	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Natalia Orlova	1–6, 1–6
Runner-up	3.	14 April 2007	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Marinne Giraud	2–6, 2–6
Winner	1.	3 June 2007	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Ria Dörnemann	6–4, 6–3
Winner	2.	1 June 2008	Gaziantep, Turkey	Hard	Pemra Özgen	7–5, 6–4
Winner	3.	21 June 2009	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Galina Fokina	6–2, 6–3
Winner	4.	9 May 2010	Kharkiv, Ukraine	Hard	Natalia Orlova	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	4.	30 May 2010	İzmir, Turkey	Hard	Tamira Paszek	2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	5.	26 June 2010	Getxo, Spain	Clay	Sílvia Soler Espinosa	0–6, 6–2, 1–6
Winner	5.	11 July 2010	Valladolid, Spain	Hard	Zhang Ling	7–6^(7–2), 6–3
Runner-up	6.	14 November 2010	Esperance, Australia	Hard	Sacha Jones	1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	7.	17 July 2011	Caceres, Spain	Hard	Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco	4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	8.	29 October 2011	Netanya, Israel	Hard	Dinah Pfizenmaier	6–7^(5–7), 6–4, 1–6
Runner-up	9.	5 May 2012	Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Margarita Gasparyan	3–6, 6–4, 1–6
Runner-up	10.	15 July 2012	Zwevegem, Belgium	Hard (i)	Anastasija Sevastova	0–6, 3–6
Runner-up	11.	2 November 2012	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard (i)	Richèl Hogenkamp	4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	12.	1 June 2013	Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Anett Kontaveit	1–6, 1–6
Runner-up	13.	3 March 2014	Preston, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Kristýna Plíšková	3–6, 6–7^(4–7)
Winner	6.	31 March 2014	Edgbaston, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Pauline Parmentier	6–4, 2–6, 6–2
Runner-up	14.	27 July 2014	Astana, Kazakhstan	Hard	Vitalia Diatchenko	4–6, 6–3, 2–6
Winner	7.	12 September 2015	Batumi, Georgia	Hard	Alena Tarasova	6-2, 6-0
Winner	8.	14 November 2015	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Klára Koukalová	6–7^(4–7), 6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	15.	19 December 2015	Ankara, Turkey	Hard (i)	Ivana Jorović	6–7^(3–7), 6–3, 2–6

Doubles 22 (14–8)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
Winner	1.	21 May 2006	Antalya, Turkey	Hard	Alena Bayarchyk	Galina Semenova Tatsiana Teterina	6–3 7–6(3)
Winner	2.	2 Jun3 2007	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Ria Dörnemann	Maja Kambič Avgusta Tsybysheva	6–2 6–4
Winner	3.	31 May 2008	Gaziantep, Turkey	Hard	Pemra Özgen	Volha Duko Ana Jikia	2–0 RET
Winner	4.	7 June 2008	Izmir, Turkey	Hard	Pemra Özgen	Emilia Arnaudovska Yuliana Umanets	6–2 6–0
Runner-up	5.	13 September 2008	Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Clay	Julia Glushko	Alberta Brianti Polona Hercog	4–6 5–7
Runner-up	6.	1 November 2008	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Pemra Özgen	Melanie Klaffner Sandra Martinović	4–6 7–6(5) [6–10]
Winner	7.	6 December 2008	Vinaros, Spain	Clay	Lucia Sainz-Pelegri	Yera Campos Molina Leticia Costas-Moreira	6–4 3–6 [10–7]
Winner	8.	18 April 2009	Antalya, Turkey	Hard	Pemra Özgen	Tetyana Arefyeva Anastasiya Lytovchenko	6–4 6–2
Runner-up	9.	1 May 2009	Namangan, Uzbekistan	Hard	Pemra Özgen	Albina Khabibulina Ksenia Ulukan	4–6 7–6(6) [5–10]
Runner-up	10.	12 June 2009	Qarshi, Uzbekistan	Hard	Pemra Özgen	Kristina Antoniychuk Oksana Kalashnikova	7–5 0–6 [6–10]
Runner-up	11.	15-Jun-2009	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Pemra Özgen	Galina Fokina Anna Morgina	4–6,6–4 8–10
Winner	12.	17 October 2009	Antalya, Turkey	Clay	Albina Khabibulina	Amanda Carreras Valentina Confalonieri	2–6 7–5 [10–7]
Runner-up	13.	30 May 2010	Izmir, Turkey	Hard	Pemra Özgen	Maria Fernanda Alves Tamira Paszek	1–6 2–6
Runner-up	14.	18 July 2011	Samsun, Turkey	Hard	Pemra Özgen	Mihaela Buzărnescu Tadeja Majerič	1–6,4–6
Winner	15.	24 October 2011	Netanya, Israel	Hard	Pemra Özgen	Nicole Clerico Julia Glushko	7–5 6–3
Winner	16.	29 October 2012	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard (i)	Pemra Özgen	Nigina Abduraimova Ksenia Palkina	6–2 6–1
Runner-up	17.	3 June 2013	Agri, Turkey	Carpet	Pemra Özgen	Melis Sezer Jasmina Tinjic	4–6 6–3 [8–10]
Winner	18.	16 September 2013	Shrewsbury, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Pemra Özgen	Samantha Murray Jade Windley	4–6, 6–4, [10–8]
Winner	19.	27 September 2013	Loughborough, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Pemra Özgen	Magda Linette Tereza Smitková	6–2, 5–7, [10–6]
Winner	20.	1 November 2013	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard (i)	Pemra Özgen	Sofia Shapatava Anastasiya Vasylyeva	6–3, 6–2
Winner	21.	20 December 2013	Ankara, Turkey	Hard (i)	Yuliya Beygelzimer	Eleni Daniilidou Aleksandra Krunić	6–3, 6–3
Winner	22.	14 November 2015	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Maria Sakkari	Elise Mertens İpek Soylu	7–6^(8–6), 6–4

Single performance statistics

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	W-L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	Q2	Q1	Q3	Q1	Q3	Q1	0–0
French Open	A	Q1	A	Q2	Q3	Q1	2R	1–1
Wimbledon	A	Q1	Q1	Q2	Q1	Q1	1R	0–1
US Open	Q1	Q2	Q2	Q2	Q2	Q1	2R	1–1
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	2–3	2–3
Year End Ranking	192	197	186	149	141	158

See also

• Turkish women in sports

References

1. "Cagla BUYUKAKCAY". Retrieved 25 April 2016.
2. "Branşlar > Tenis-2010 sezonunda" (in Turkish). Enka Spor Kulübü. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
3. "Buyukakcay Caps Historic Win In Istanbul". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
4. "Turkish delight for qualifying trio". Roland Garros. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
5. "Buyukakcay Triumphs For Turkey In Paris". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved 2016-07-18.

External links

• Çağla Büyükakçay at the Women's Tennis Association
• Çağla Büyükakçay at the International Tennis Federation
• Çağla Büyükakçay at the Fed Cup