Introduction
Céline Beigbeder (born 25 February 1975) is a former professional tennis player from France.
Biography
Beigbeder was born in Bayonne, a city in south-western France, the daughter of Jean-Pierre and Nicole. The highlights of her junior career include winning the French national championships in 1993 and making the Orange Bowl quarter-finals in 1994. Her former coach and educator was Jean Michel Etchebarne. Finishing school in 1994, she competed for several years on the ITF circuit.
It wasn't until 2001, aged 26, that she committed to professional tennis full-time. At her first WTA Tour tournament, the 2001 Internationaux de Strasbourg, she made it into the main draw as a qualifier and reached the semi-finals, with wins over Tamarine Tanasugarn, Sarah Pitkowski and Ai Sugiyama. She was granted a wilcard into the 2001 French Open and was beaten in the first round by Elena Dementieva. Her five ITF titles in 2001 included two $50,000 events as well as a win over Jelena Jankovic en route to the title at Lenzerheide. By the end of the year her ranking had risen to 101 in the world.
In 2002 she broke into the world's top 100, peaking at 84 in April, with main draw appearance at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon. She was a quarter-finalist at both the Copa Colsanitas and the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo in the 2002 season.
ITF finals
Singles (9–2)
| Legend |
|---|
| $50,000 tournaments |
| $25,000 tournaments |
| $10,000 tournaments |
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 15 November 1998 | Le Havre, France | Clay | Stéphanie Foretz | 6–1, 4–6, 3–6 |
| Winner | 2. | 13 August 2000 | Périgueux, France | Clay | Virginie Pichet | 6–1, 6–1 |
| Winner | 3. | 22 April 2001 | Gelos, France | Clay | Laurence Andretto | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Winner | 4. | 24 June 2001 | Lenzerheide, Switzerland | Clay | Anousjka van Exel | 6–3, 6–0 |
| Winner | 5. | 1 July 2001 | Mont-de-Marsan, France | Clay | Angelika Rösch | 6–1, 6–1 |
| Winner | 6. | 5 August 2001 | Saint-Gaudens, France | Clay | Julia Vakulenko | 6–4, 6–1 |
| Winner | 7. | 9 September 2001 | Denain, France | Clay | Lubomira Bacheva | 6–4, 6–0 |
| Winner | 8. | 7 July 2002 | Mont-de-Marsan, France | Clay | Alexandra Kravets | 7–5, 6–1 |
| Runner-up | 9. | 29 June 2003 | Perigueux, France | Clay | Anabel Medina Garrigues | 1–6, 2–6 |
| Winner | 10. | 24 August 2003 | San Marino, San Marino | Clay | Kildine Chevalier | 6–3, 6–1 |
| Winner | 11. | 9 November 2003 | Villenave-d'Ornon, France | Clay | Betina Pirker | 6–1, 6–1 |
Doubles (1-0)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 19 October 2003 | Carcavelos, Portugal | Clay | Rosa María Andrés Rodríguez | Romy Farah Neuza Silva |
6–2, 1–0 ret. |