The Athlete of the Week: Tennis player Ana Bogdan

One of last week’s main competitions in the professional women's tennis circuit was the WTA 250 tournament in Warsaw, with total prizes worth 251,750 dollars. Three Romanians were on the main draw: Gabriela Lee, Ana Bogdan and Alexandra Cadanțu – Ignatik. The latter did not pass the first round. Lee reached the second round, where she lost to Iga Swiatek, the host’s favorite and world number one player. The third Romanian, Ana Bogdan, number 108 in the world before the tournament, defied all predictions and reached the final, therefore Radio Romania International designated her the ‘Athlete of the Week’.

In Warsaw, Bogdan defeated, in the first round, Nuria Parrizas Diaz, from Spain, 6-4, 7-6. In the second round, she defeated the experienced Katerina Siniakova, from the Czech Republic, 6-0, 6-4. In the quarterfinals, the Romanian had a clear-cut win 6-1, 6-1, against the Brazilian Laura Pigossi. Then followed her victory, in the semi-finals, against the Ukrainian Kateryna Baindl, 7-5, 7-5. Practically, until the final, Ana did not lose a single set. However, she lost in the last match to the French Caroline Garcia, the tournament’s 5th seed, who won 6-4, 6-1. It is worth mentioning that Garcia had defeated Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. Ana Bogdan got a check of 19,750 dollars and 180 WTA points, which brought her a jump of 33 places in the world ranking, where she is now ranked 75th.

Ana Bogdan was born on November 25, 1992, in Sinaia, Prahova County. She passed to professional tennis in 2007. In 2009 she was second in the juniors’ world ranking. In the WTA hierarchy, she climbed to the highest position in June 2018, namely on the 59th position. Until then, she had reached two semifinals of WTA tournaments, in Florianopolis, in 2016, and in Bucharest, in 2017 respectively. She is a main component of the women's team of Romania. (LS)