“TED - FIRATPEN Republican Girls International Indoor Tennis Tournament" commenced on october 29th with $25,000 prize ended with the singles final held at 15:00 on november 06th, sunday.

In singles women, TSURENKO Lesia defeated World junior champion KHROMACHEVA İrina with 6/1 and 7/5 scores and became the champion.

In doubles, twin sisters KICHENKOK Lyudmyla and KICHENOK Nadiya defeated JUGIC SALIC Mervana and VRLJIC Ana with 4/6 and 6/1 (10-7) scores and won the championship.

Fırat Plastik Member of Board of Directors Mr.Tayfun Demir and TED Chairman of Board of Directors Prof.Dr. Mehmet Tınaz presented the cups to the champions.

History

International Women’s Tennis Tournament sponsored by Fıratpen for 12 years and a part of “ITF Circuit” series, had been organized in cooperation with TED Sports Club in the first years as Satellite Tournament with $ 10,000 prize.

Satellite tournaments with $10,000 prize are tournaments intended for promising players who have just started their professional tennis career, and they are tournaments for transition to “Circuit” and then “Tour Event” series. There are numerous players who were able to complete this hard road which presents many challenges and requires endless patience and fortitude.  For a tennis player Satellites are a “starting point” and “Circuits” are the steepest hill. The main difference between women’s tennis and men’s tennis is women players are able to leap forward to be among top 100 players in a shorter time. Therefore, a player that you watch at Fıratpen Tournament may become a “grand-prix” player all of a sudden.   Fıratpen, the main sponsor of this tournament is assuming an important duty for gathering the promising tennis players of Turkey and Europe together.

The tournament was organized as indoor court tournament between 2000-2002 during February-March. In 2003, the tournament date was changed to the week of October 29th and it was renamed as TED-Fıratpen “Republican Girls”. The prize being $ 10,000 in the first 4 years, the tournament prize became $ 25,000 in the 5th year. This way, the tournament started to welcome professional players with high world standings. Thus, the tournament hosted players from the top 150 of the world and introduced them to Turkish players and audience.

Ukrainian Lesia TSURENKO who is 119th in the world standing this year is the 1st series leader of the tournament to which 393 players from 30 countries have admitted to.  2nd and 3rd series leaders of the tournament are Bulgarian Dia EVTIMOVA (150) and Russian Ekoterina BYCHKOVA (169)

Pemra Özgen (TED) singles standing (297), expected to reach great achievements this year aims to win the cup and she is one of the players whose name will be mentioned often in the tournament.

In addition to the rising star of Turkish tennis, also Melis Sezer, İpek Soylu,Cemre Anıl Eylül Benli, Ekin Bahıtlı, İpek Birol, Gülben Güldaş, Gülşah Çetin are other Turkish players who will participate in the tournament.
The tournament consists of 2 categories as women’s singles and women’s double, and the main chart and eliminations consist of tables of 32 and 16, respectively.

Women’s indoor tennis tournament with $25,000 prize “12th TED-FIRATPEN Republican Girls International Tennis Tournament” will be held between October 29th, 2011 / November 06th, 2011 at TED Sports Club. The tournament is also the longest dated indoor women’s tennis tournament of Turkey.

Audience of the last grand tournament of the year to be held in İstanbul, “WTA Championship” will be able to watch the potential promising stars of the future at TED-FIRATPEN. Many of the stars who reached to “VTA Championship” have passed this way.

Ukrainian Lesia TSURENKO who is 119th in the world standing this year is the 1st series leader of the tournament to which 393 players from 30 countries have admitted to.  2nd and 3rd series leaders of the tournament are Bulgarian Dia EVTIMOVA (150) and Russian Ekoterina BYCHKOVA (169). (She has become 66th in the world standing in 2006)

Marta DOMACHOWSKA from Poland who is currently the 6th is the player who became 37th in the World Standing in 2006.Pemra Özgen (TED) (singles standing 297), expected to reach great achievements this year aims to win the cup and she is one of the players whose name will be mentioned often in the tournament.

In addition to the rising star of Turkish tennis, also Melis Sezer, İpek Soylu,Eylül Benli, Ekin Bahıtlı, İpek Birol, Gülben Güldaş, Cemre Anıl Gülşah Çetin are other Turkish players who will participate in the tournament.