Elena Sergeevna Baltacha was a Ukrainian-born British professional tennis player. Being a four-time winner of the Aegon Award, she was also a long-term British No. 1, a position she held intermittently from 2002 to 2012. However, due to her absence from competition due to knee surgery, she dropped down the world rankings and at the time of her retirement on 18 November 2013, she was ranked as the world No. 221 and British No. 6. Her career high ranking of World No. 49 was achieved in September 2010. Over the course of her career she won eleven ITF singles titles and four ITF doubles titles. She was also a runner-up in three ITF events in singles and four in doubles. In 2010, Baltacha had victories over top 10 players, including two victories over Li Na and one against Francesca Schiavone, who at the time was the reigning French Open champion. In 2011 Baltacha won her highest ranked tournament on the ITF tour, the 2011 Aegon Nottingham Challenge. Baltacha was diagnosed with liver cancer in January 2014, just a few weeks after her marriage to tennis coach Nino Severino. She died on 4 May 2014, aged 30, in her Ipswich home, surrounded by friends and family. 

August 14th, 1983 in Kiev  /  Died:   May 4th, 2014 - Died of liver cancer