When the WTA Tour interviewed Romanian prospect Irina-Camelia Begu in April 2011, the 21-year-old wished for a Top 100 ranking. Already in September she reached No.38 and crowned the season with a WTA Newcomer of the Year Award. But how did it all start for this Bucharest resident?

Irina started training tennis at the age of three, with her aunt Aura Wagner. However, tennis was not the only sport of her childhood. She wanted to become a gymnast, but found it very hard, and she also played handball by the age of ten or eleven, when she finally decided to focus on tennis.

The photo above is from Irina's Facebook page. It was taken when she was just four years old, during her first training in Germany. The comment below the pic says:

I was very proud and happy to hold my aunt’s racquet, the person who made me fall in love with this game.

I would like to thank a reader who referred me to this pic of Irina some time ago, but I've lost track of who it was. I'm sorry. Reader, say hello in the comments if you see this!

Would you like to keep track of your tennis match scores? How about sending match results by email or text message? Look no further than the Tennis Score Tracker!

Tennis Score Tracker is a mobile application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Players, coaches, and observers can keep score of tennis matches, and send match scores at any time via email or text message. What makes this app unique is that tennis players can keep score of tennis matches while playing, updating match scores during changeovers.

Keeping score in tennis is very simple using this app. In just a few taps the match timer starts and scoring begins. If playing a tennis match users can set the score mode to game-by-game so that the score is updated during changeovers. If observing a tennis match users can set the score mode to point-by-point, scoring matches in the standard way. Scores can be sent via email or text message, or posted to Facebook. Matches can be suspended for later play if needed. A player roster, with details such as notes and player ratings, integrates with your existing contacts as an option.

Locations of tennis matches can be displayed in a map view so that over time users can see where matches were played, and to view previous matches based on location. Locations are displayed during match play based on location name, coordinates as latitude and longitude, or coordinates as degrees, minutes, and seconds, selectable by the user.

Features:

• Score several match types (singles, doubles, Australian, Canadian)
• Game-by-game scoring for players
• Point-by-point scoring for observers
• Post match scores to Facebook
• Send text or email with scores to players
• View historical match data
• Ability to suspend matches during play
• Supports Pro sets (for junior tournaments)
• Supports a variety of tiebreaks
• Edit historical matches or matches during play
• Match timer keeps track of match time
• Choose from one, three, or five sets
• Stores player detail with ratings, handedness, etc.

Device Requirements:

• Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
• Requires iOS 4.2 or later
• 3.4 Mb

Languages Supported:

• English, French, Japanese, Spanish, Simplified Chinese

Dear readers,

Women's Tennis Blog is wishing you a wonderful holiday season and a very happy 2012. Let health be with you in the new year, followed by love, friendship, harmony, prosperity and fun. Of course, I am wishing all this to our WTA players as well, so that they can bring us another enjoyable tennis season, with less injuries hopefully.

Thank you for supporting Women's Tennis Blog, which is now unbelievably entering its fifth year of existence (the official birthday is on March 31). By reading us every day you are making this online WTA portal successful and I can't thank you enough for that. I hope to continue receiving your support in 2012.

And talking about support, if you haven't already, do vote for Women's Tennis Blog at the Baseline Awards in the Best Tennis Blog category. There's only one day left! Follow this link, click on Vote Today, and the survey will lead you.

Take care and indulge in celebration!

Cheers,

Marija

(photo: ewphoto)

Dear readers,

I am excited to inform you that Women's Tennis Blog has once again been nominated for the best tennis blog in the Baseline Awards and I hope you will take a few minutes of your time and vote for your favorite online spot You can cast your vote here. The 2011 is the fifth edition of the awards at www.onthebaseline.com and if you remember Women's Tennis Blog won in 2009. Last year Forty Deuce took the honor, but I hope Women's Tennis Blog will have the edge this time.

Other blogs nominated this year are TennisSpin.net, Beyond the Baseline, ZooTennis, Tennis Served Fresh and Forty Deuce. Of course there are also other categories at the awards, such as: Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Best Non-Grand Slam Final of the Year, Twitterer of the Year, etc.

Voting is open until January 2 and winners will be announced on January 5. Take action!

A year after her elder sister Alona got married, 25-year-old Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko married Kiev businessman Denis. There are many photos from the wedding online at this Ukrainian news source.

Here's a photo of Alona with her husband Nikolay Dyachok.

Bondarenko is currently ranked 74th and her best result this season was the semifinal of the $200,000 Bad Gastein in July.

At the age of 27 Chanelle Scheepers clinched her maiden title on the WTA Tour at the WANLIMA Guangzhou International Women's Open in China.

Never before this tournament had Scheepers been past the quarterfinals of a WTA event and to reach the title match in Guangzhou the South African played three-setters in all rounds - in the first round against Anastasija Sevastova, in the second against Hsieh Su-Wei, in the quarters against Urszula Radwanska and in the semis against top seed Maria Kirilenko. The final was a whole different story for Scheepers, whose game clicked and she cruised past Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2 6-2.

At No.72 Rybarikova is just one place higher ranked than Scheepers, but the Slovakian came to the final as a much bigger name, having had two titles and one runner-up position to her name. (photo via Guangzhou Open)

Can little Sara be any sweeter? Look at that face and hair, the vintage dress and socks, and not to mention the wooden racquet that Sara's father Giorgio made for his 3-year-old.

A few years later, for the first day of school, Errani was again amazingly adorable.

The above photo on the right shows Errani after her first tournament victory. She looked more like a boy, unfortunately she got rid of her curls.

Errani is now 24 years old. Her highest ranking was No.31 and she has won two WTA titles (Palermo and Portoroz in 2008).

In Women's Tennis Blog's rich collection of childhood photos you can see Serena and Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, Dominika Cibulkova, Monica Seles, and many more. (photos via sara-errani.com)

Dear readers,

The time has come for a summer vacation and while I am super excited for the sun, sea and all the fun it brings, I am sorry that I will not be able to update my blog in the next ten days, until August 1. This time I haven't prepared posts in advance, so you will get some time to rest as well

Unfortunately I will not cover the inaugural tournaments of Baku Cup in Azerbaijan and Citi Open in Washington, and the Premier-level Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.

See you soon!

Best,

Marija

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez

In the final of the Gastein Ladies, Martinez Sanchez played Austrian wildcard Patricia Mayr-Achleitner and started off with a 6-0 1-0 lead. The 24-year-old wildcard, first-time WTA finalist, then won four straight games before Martinez Sanchez took charge again and won the match 6-0 7-5.

En route to the trophy, the 54th-ranked Martinez Sanchez defeated Paula Ormaechea, Sandra Zahlavova,Yvonne Meusburger, Kateryna Bondarenko and finally Patricia Mayr-Achleitner. (photo via Yahoo)

Top seed Roberta Vinci denied Irina-Camelia Begu her first WTA title, beating the 20-year-old Romanian 6-4 1-6 6-4 in the final of Budapest Grand Prix.

The trophy didn't come easily into Vinci's hands. Not only was the final challenging, but in the second round the Italian was two points from losing to wildcard Timea Babos and in the quarterfinal against Zuzana Kucova she saved two match points.

The Budapest title is the 28-year-old Vinci's third of the season, after Barcelona and 's-Hertogenbosch, and her sixth career title. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)