Hülya Esen

Hülya Esen
Country (sports)	Bulgaria, Turkey
Born	7 August 1989 (age 34); Istanbul, Turkey
Turned pro	2003
Retired	2018
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$53,787
Singles
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 504 (9 July 2012)
Doubles
Career titles	6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 406 (11 November 2013)

Hülya Esen, Хюлия Велиева (born 7 August 1989) is a Turkish born Bulgarian former professional tennis player. Esen won six ITF doubles titles and reached career-high WTA rankings of 504 in singles (on 9 July 2012) and No. 406 in doubles (on 11 November 2013). She was the number-one-player in the Bulgarian women's tennis rankings for seven consecutive years.

Personal life edit

Her parents are of Turkish origin from Kardzhali, Bulgaria, and her ancestors came from Konya. Her mother Nebahat is from Ardino, and has been her coach, managing her and her sister’s Lütfiye careers.

Career edit

Esen made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2008 Gastein Ladies in the doubles event, partnering Stefanie Haidner. She also played in the doubles event of the 2010 İstanbul Cup, partnering Derya Turhan.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Together with her sister Lütfiye, they were 12 times women's doubles champions of Bulgaria. Hülya is in total 17 times champion of Bulgaria, in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. She is the first and was the only triple champion of Bulgaria (till 2021), that have won all singles, doubles and mixed doubles competitions in one championship.^[5]^[6]

She played her last match on the ITF Circuit in October 2018.

ITF Circuit finals edit

Singles: 2 (2 runner–ups) edit

Legend
$10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface
Hard (0–2)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2011	ITF Gaziantep, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Melis Sezer	2–6, 1–6
Loss	0–2	Apr 2012	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Nicole Melichar	4–6, 3–6

Doubles: 18 (6 titles, 12 runner–ups) edit

Legend
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface
Hard (2–3)
Clay (4–9)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 2007	ITF Palić, Serbia	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Martina Babáková Davinia Lobbinger	2–6, 3–6
Win	1–1	May 2008	ITF Adana, Turkey	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Julia Efremova Diana Isaeva	5–7, 6–1, [10–4]
Loss	1–2	Oct 2009	ITF Dobrich, Bulgaria	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Diana Marcu Simona Matei	5–7, 6–4, [5–10]
Loss	1–3	Oct 2010	ITF Dobrich, Bulgaria	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Camelia Hristea Ionela-Andreea Iova	0–6, 6–2, [6–10]
Win	2–3	Sep 2011	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Lütfiye Esen	Magali de Lattre Christina Shakovets	7–5, 7–5
Loss	2–4	Sep 2011	ITF Adana, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Lütfiye Esen	Nikola Fraňková Hsu Chieh-yu	6–7⁽⁴⁾, 4–6
Win	3–4	Oct 2011	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Khristina Kazimova Francesca Stephenson	6–4, 6–2
Win	4–4	Dec 2011	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Laura Ioana Paar Raluca Elena Platon	6–0, 1–6, [10–7]
Loss	4–5	Feb 2012	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Clay	Seda Arantekin	Diana Enache Daniëlle Harmsen	6–7⁽⁵⁾, 1–6
Win	5–5	Apr 2012	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Lütfiye Esen	Lu Jiaxiang Lu Jiajing	1–6, 6–4, [10–8]
Win	6–5	Jun 2012	ITF Niš, Serbia	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Lina Gjorcheska Maria Mokh	3–6, 7–6⁽²⁾, [10–6]
Loss	6–6	Jul 2012	ITF Prokuplje, Serbia	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Lina Gjorcheska Dalia Zafirova	3–6, 2–6
Loss	6–7	Nov 2012	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Diana Buzean Daniëlle Harmsen	6–4, 1–6, [3–10]
Loss	6–8	Nov 2012	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Laura Ioana Andrei Raluca Elena Platon	4–6, 6–3, [7–10]
Loss	6–9	Jul 2013	ITF Izmir, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Lütfiye Esen	Başak Eraydın Zuzana Zlochová	1–6, 3–6
Loss	6–10	Aug 2013	ITF Izmir, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Lütfiye Esen	Anett Kontaveit Polina Leykina	4–6, 5–7
Loss	6–11	Jul 2014	ITF Prokuplje, Serbia	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Lina Gjorcheska Alexandra Nancarrow	2–6, 4–6
Loss	6–12	Jul 2016	ITF Prokuplje, Serbia	10,000	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Veronika Miroshnichenko Valeriya Zeleva	5–7, 1–6

ITF Junior Circuit finals edit

Singles: 3 (3 runner–ups) edit

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Grade	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2005	Plovdiv, Bulgaria	G5	Clay	Anna Maskaljun	2–6, 7–5, 1–6
Loss	0–2	May 2005	Istanbul, Turkey	G5	Hard	Nikki Prosser	1–6, 6–7⁽⁴⁾
Loss	0–3	Aug 2005	Skopje, Macedonia	G5	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	2–6, 0–2 ret.

Doubles: 4 (4 titles) edit

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Grade	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	May 2004	Istanbul, Turkey	G5	Hard	Gözde Ünkaya	Ina Sireţeanu Gabriela Stepa	6–4, 6–0
Win	2–0	Sep 2004	Sofia, Bulgaria	G5	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Ioana-Alexandra Bara Nicoleta-Ana Maria Bara	6–0, 6–4
Win	3–0	May 2005	Istanbul, Turkey	G5	Hard	Lütfiye Esen	Eylül Benli Valeria Savinykh	7–6⁽⁵⁾, 4–6, 6–4
Win	4–0	Aug 2005	Skopje, Macedonia	G5	Clay	Lütfiye Esen	Nives Pavlovic Nevena Selaković	6–4, 6–1