Margarita Gasparyan

Margarita Melikovna Betova (née Gasparyan; Маргари́та Ме́ликовна Гаспаря́н, Մարգարիտա Մելիքի Գասպարյան; born 1 September 1994) is a Russian tennis player.

Betova has won two singles and four doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as nine singles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.

Gasparyan started her pro career at the $10k tournament in St. Petersburg in mid-March 2010, losing in the first qualification round.

Her first successful appearance was in another $10k tournament in Minsk, reaching the quarterfinals in singles and semifinals in doubles, respectively.

Her first final was in Tyumen in doubles with Natela Dzalamidze in the very end of 2011, losing 0–6, 2–6 to Darya Kustova and Olga Savchuk.

In 2012, Gasparyan won four singles titles on the ITF Circuit, all under the category $25k.

All of her singles titles came from Russia.

She was awarded a wildcard into the Kremlin Cup but lost to Lucie Šafářová, in three sets.

At the end of the 2013 season, Gasparyan was called by Shamil Tarpischev to be part of the Russian team for the Fed Cup Final against Italy, in early November.

Afterward, she won her fifth ITF title in Minsk.

The 2014 WTA Tour was for Gasparyan more productive especially by season's end in singles, and in doubles, she improved as she won two major ITF tournaments out of four, one being a top-levelled tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Gasparyan qualified for the Tashkent Open, but lost in the first round.

She debuted at a Grand Slam tournament when she was in the qualifying draw at the US Open.

At the end of the season, Gasparyan saw good results in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, winning one tournament.

Gasparyan won three ITF singles tournaments and one ITF doubles tournament, former being a top-level one.

She achieved her first loss in an ITF final, also a $100k tournament, in Trnava, Slovakia, where she lost to Danka Kovinić.

She then played on the WTA Tour.

In May, Gasparyan made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at French Open, where she lost in two sets to Ana Konjuh as a qualifier.

On June 29, she made her second Grand Slam main-draw entry as a qualifier at Wimbledon, where she lost to No. 1 seed Serena Williams in the first round.

At the İstanbul Cup, Gasparyan played Tsvetana Pironkova after getting past the qualifying rounds.

Despite winning the first set 6–0 and having two match points, she lost the match 6–0, 6–7, 6–7.

Gasparyan won her first WTA title in Baku, defeating Patricia Maria Țig in the final.

In 2015, she won both her first singles and doubles titles during the same week, a feat she achieved at the Baku Cup.

She was formerly coached by Elena Makarova, and she is currently coached by Carlos Martinez.

Born to an Armenian father, Melik, and a Russian mother, Lyudmila, Gasparyan began playing tennis at age 5.

Her father was a weightlifter for some time, and her mother was a biathlonist.

Margarita's home club is CSKA Moscow.

The 27-year-old Margarita married Belarusian tennis player Sergey Betov in July 2021.

On 23 December 2021, Betova gave birth to a son, Daniil Betov.

She became the first one-handed backhand player to win in the 2015 WTA season.

As a result, her singles ranking rose to a career-high No. 71.

Gasparyan, also with her win in the doubles event alongside title defender Alexandra Panova, rose to No. 84 in the doubles rankings.

She lost in the qualifying rounds at the US Open, losing to American wildcard Jessica Pegula in straight sets.

Gasparyan then lost in the second round of the Tashkent Open to German Anna-Lena Friedsam, in straight sets.

However, she won her second WTA doubles title of the year there with Alexandra Panova.

At the Ladies Linz, Gasparyan upset sixth seed Camila Giorgi in the second round, before losing to Friedsam again.

At the Kremlin Cup, Gasparyan upset ninth seed Kristina Mladenovic in the second round but lost to eventual finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals.

In her last tournament of the year, Gasparyan reached the quarterfinals of the WTA Challenger Open de Seine-et-Marne, retiring in the match against Francesca Schiavone.

Gasparyan ended the season as world No. 62, her first season ending in the top 100 and winning her first WTA singles title.

On 15 February 2016, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 41, and on 6 June 2016, she reached her best doubles ranking of No. 25.