Elena Pampoulova

Elena Pampoulova
Елена Пампулова

Elena Wagner (2006)
Country (sports)	Bulgaria (1972–1996) Germany (1997–2001)
Born	(1972-05-17)17 May 1972 Sofia, Bulgaria
Died	19 April 2023(2023-04-19) (aged 50)
Turned pro	1988
Retired	2001
Prize money	US$ 704,882
Singles
Career record	243–179
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 62 (9 September 1996)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (1990, 1998, 1999)
French Open	2R (1990, 1998, 1999)
Wimbledon	3R (1999)
US Open	3R (1997)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (1992)
Doubles
Career record	163–146
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 38 (23 September 1996)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (1995, 1998)
French Open	3R (1990, 1996, 1999)
Wimbledon	2R (1997)
US Open	2R (1995)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open	1R (1997)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	8–8 (singles 5–6)

Elena Pampoulova (also Elena Wagner, Elena Pampoulova-Bergomi, Bulgarian: Елена Пампулова, 17 May 1972 – 19 April 2023) was a Bulgarian tennis player. In her career, she won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour.

Her tennis career spanned from 1988 to 2001. Pampoulova's career-high singles ranking is world No. 62, her best doubles ranking is No. 38, both achieved in September 1996.

Tennis career

Pampoulova played for Bulgaria and the Bulgaria Fed Cup team from 1988 to 1992. Pampoulova was one of only three players to represent Bulgaria in tennis at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona (together with Katerina Maleeva and Magdalena Maleeva).

From 1997 to 1999, Elena played for the Germany Fed Cup team. She won 13 career titles in singles (one WTA Tour) and 11 titles in doubles (three of them from WTA Tour).

Her first tennis coach was her own mother, Bulgarian tennis player Lubka Radkova. Elena's father, Emilian Pampoulov, is also a tennis player.

Personal life

On 11 July 2006, Pampoulova married her long-time boyfriend, Swiss banker Christian Bergomi. Their son Alex was born in early 2008. The couple lived in Switzerland, where Elena was an asset manager. In June 2022 she was found guilty of money laundering offences together with Credit Suisse and three other defendants. Prior to the trial, Credit Suisse unreservedly rejected as meritless all allegations raised against her and [was] convinced that she [was] innocent. Both the bank and Pampoulova announced their intentions to appeal the court decision.

Pampoulova died on 19 April 2023, at the age of 50 after an illness.

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner–up)

Legend Tier I Tier II Tier III Tier IV (1–1)

Finals by surface Hard (1–0) Clay (0–1) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Nov 1994	Surabaya Classic, Indonesia	Tier IV	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	2–6, 6–0, ret.
Loss	1–1	Aug 1998	Sopot Open, Poland	Tier IV	Clay	Henrieta Nagyová	3–6, 7–5, 1–6

Doubles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Legend Tier II Tier III (1–0) Tier IV (2–3) Tier V (0–2)

Finals by surface Hard (0–1) Clay (3–4) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Aug 1989	Sofia Open, Bulgaria	Tier V	Clay	Silke Meier	Laura Garrone Laura Golarsa	4–6, 5–7
Loss	0–2	Sep 1989	Athens Trophy, Greece	Tier V	Clay	Silke Meier	Sandra Cecchini Patricia Tarabini	6–4, 4–6, 2–6
Loss	0–3	Sep 1996	Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic	Tier IV	Clay	Eva Martincová	Karina Habšudová Helena Suková	6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Win	1–3	Sep 1996	Warsaw Open, Poland	Tier III	Clay	Olga Lugina	Alexandra Fusai Laura Garrone	1–6, 6–4, 7–5
Loss	1–4	Jan 1997	Auckland Open, New Zealand	Tier IV	Hard	Aleksandra Olsza	Janette Husárová Dominique Monami	2–6, 7–6(7–5), 3–6
Loss	1–5	Apr 1997	Hungarian Ladies Open, Hungary	Tier IV	Clay	Eva Martincová	Amanda Coetzer Alexandra Fusai	3–6, 1–6
Win	2–5	Jul 1998	Palermo Ladies Open, Italy	Tier IV	Clay	Pavlina Nola	Barbara Schett Patty Schnyder	6–4, 6–2
Win	3–5	Aug 1999	Knokke-Heist, Belgium	Tier IV	Clay	Eva Martincová	Evgenia Kulikovskaya Sandra Načuk	3–6, 6–3, 6–3

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 14 (12 titles, 2 runner–ups)

Legend $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (6–0) Clay (5–1) Carpet (1–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Oct 1988	ITF Baden, Switzerland	10,000	Hard (i)	Katarzyna Nowak	6–1, 6–1
Win	2–0	Dec 1988	ITF Melbourne, Australia	10,000	Hard	Xóchitl Escobedo	7–6(7–3), 6–2
Win	3–0	May 1989	ITF Athens, Greece	10,000	Clay	Dora Rangelova	6–1, 6–7, 6–1
Win	4–0	Jul 1989	ITF Erlangen, West Germany	25,000	Clay	Wiltrud Probst	6–1, 2–6, 6–3
Win	5–0	Aug 1989	ITF Budapest, Hungary	25,000	Clay	Silke Frankl	6–4, 6–7, 6–0
Win	6–0	Jul 1990	ITF Stuttgart-Vaihingen, West Germany	25,000	Clay	Denisa Krajčovičová	6–3, 6–3
Loss	6–1	Nov 1992	ITF Nottingham, UK	25,000	Carpet (i)	Elena Makarova	6–3, 2–6, 5–7
Loss	6–2	Mar 1994	ITF Reims, France	25,000	Clay (i)	Catherine Mothes-Jobkel	1–6, 2–6
Win	7–2	Oct 1994	ITF Jakarta, Indonesia	50,000	Clay	Hiromi Nagano	6–4, 6–1
Win	8–2	Dec 1995	Open de Limoges, France	50,000	Hard (i)	Paula Hermida	7–5, 6–3
Win	9–2	Feb 1996	ITF Redbridge, UK	25,000	Hard (i)	Haruka Inoue	6–4, 6–4
Win	10–2	Mar 1996	ITF Southampton, UK	50,000	Carpet (i)	Isabelle Demongeot	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Win	11–2	Apr 1996	ITF Murcia, Spain	75,000	Clay	Patty Schnyder	6–4, 6–3
Win	12–2	Mar 1998	ITF Woodlands, United States	25,000	Hard	Anna Smashnova	2–6, 6–1, 7–5

Doubles: 13 (8 titles, 5 runner–ups)

Legend $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (3–2) Clay (3–2) Carpet (2–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Dec 1988	ITF Melbourne, Australia	10,000	Hard	Kristin Godridge	Natalia Leipus Bernadette Randall	4–6, 7–6(7–5), 2–6
Win	1–1	Apr 1989	ITF Bari, Italy	10,000	Clay	Marion Maruska	Andrea Noszály Eva-Maria Schürhoff	w/o
Win	2–1	Jun 1992	ITF Modena, Italy	25,000	Clay	Ruxandra Dragomir	Alexandra Fusai Natalie Tschan	6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Loss	2–2	Jul 1992	ITF Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany	25,000	Clay	Joannette Kruger	Eva Martincová Pavlína Rajzlová	4–6, 0–6
Loss	2–3	Nov 1992	ITF Manchester, UK	25,000	Carpet (i)	Natalie Tschan	Elena Likhovtseva Elena Makarova	3–6, 4–6
Win	3–3	Nov 1992	ITF Nottingham, UK	25,000	Carpet (i)	Els Callens	Ruxandra Dragomir Irina Spîrlea	7–6(7–3), 6–4
Win	4–3	Apr 1993	Open de Limoges, France	25,000	Carpet (i)	Silvia Farina Elia	Stephanie Reece Danielle Scott	6–2, 6–7(5–7), 6–2
Win	5–3	Oct 1993	ITF Poitiers, France	25,000	Hard (i)	Olga Lugina	Els Callens Nancy Feber	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Win	6–3	Dec 1994	ITF Cergy-Pontoise, France	50,000	Hard (i)	Angelique Olivier	Kateřina Sisková Eva Melicharová	6–1, 6–4
Win	7–3	Oct 1995	ITF Lakeland, United States	50,000	Hard	Eva Martincová	Sandra Cacic Tracey Morton-Rodgers	1–6, 6–2, 6–1
Loss	7–4	Dec 1995	Open de Limoges, France	50,000	Hard (i)	Eva Martincová	Eva Melicharová Helena Vildová	3–6, 6–0, 4–6
Win	8–4	Aug 1997	Makarska International, Croatia	75,000	Clay	Olga Lugina	Maria Goloviznina Evgenia Kulikovskaya	5–7, 7–5, 7–5
Loss	8–5	Apr 1998	ITF Prostějov, Czech Republic	75,000	Clay	Olga Lugina	Lenka Cenková Kateřina Sisková	4–6, 6–4, 4–6

Fed Cup

Elena Pampoulova debuted for the Bulgaria Fed Cup team in 1988. She has a 5–6 singles record and a 3–2 doubles record (8–8 overall).

Singles (5–6)

Edition	Round	Date	Against	Surface	Opponent	W/L	Result
1988 World Group I	QR	4 December 1988	Philippines	Hard	Sarah Rafael	W	6–3, 6–2
	R1	5 December 1988	Sweden		Catarina Lindqvist	L	5–7, 3–6
	PO	6 December 1988	Malta		Carol Cassar-Torreggiani	W	7–6(7–5), 6–3
	PO	7 December 1988	Netherlands		Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	L	6–4, 6–7(5–7), 5–7
1990 World Group I	QR	21 July 1990	Philippines	Hard	Sarah Castillejo	W	6–2, 6–0
	R1	22 July 1990	Austria		Judith Wiesner	L	0–6, 0–6
	PO	23 July 1990	Norway		Amy Jonsson-Råholt	W	6–4, 6–3
	PO	24 July 1990	Brazil		Cláudia Chabalgoity	L	2–6, 6–2, 4–6
1992 World Group I play-offs	PO	17 July 1992	Hungary	Clay	Anna Földényi	L	4–6, 2–6
↓  Representing Germany  ↓
1999 World Group II	QF	24 April 1999	Japan	Clay	Shinobu Asagoe	L	6–7(6–8), 1–6
		25 April 1999			Miho Saeki	W	7–6(10–8), 6–3

Doubles (3–2)

Edition	Round	Date	Partner	Against	Surface	Opponents	W/L	Result
1988 World Group I	R1	5 December 1988	Galia Angelova	Sweden	Hard	Jonna Jonerup Maria Lindström	L	6–2, 6–7(5–7), 1–6
1990 World Group I	PO	23 July 1990	Dora Rangelova	Norway	Hard	Amy Jonsson-Råholt Astrid Sunde	W	4–6, 6–2, 6–3
1992 World Group I play-offs	RPO	16 July 1992	Magdalena Maleeva	Romania	Hard	Ruxandra Dragomir Irina Spîrlea	L	6–7(5–7), 2–6
	RPO	17 July 1992	Katerina Maleeva	Hungary		Virág Csurgó Kata Györke	W	7–6(8–6), 4–6, 6–1
↓  Representing Germany  ↓
1997 World Group I	QF	2 March 1997	Barbara Rittner	Czech Republic	Hard (I)	Eva Martincová Ludmila Richterová	W	7–6(7–3), 6–2

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

DNQ

A

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Tournament	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	Career W–L
Australian Open	A	A	2R	A	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	2R	2R	A	A	3–5
French Open	A	A	2R	1R	A	Q1	Q1	1R	1R	1R	2R	2R	Q3	A	3–7
Wimbledon	A	A	A	2R	A	A	A	1R	1R	A	1R	3R	A	A	3–5
US Open	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	3R	1R	1R	A	A	3–6
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	2–3	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–4	1–3	2–3	2–4	4–4	0–0	0–0	12–23

External links

• Elena Pampoulova at the Women's Tennis Association
• Elena Pampoulova at the International Tennis Federation
• Elena Pampoulova at the Billie Jean King Cup
• Elena Pampoulova at Wimbledon
• Elena Pampoulova at Olympedia
• Elena Pampoulova at Olympics.com
• Bulgarian Olympic Committee