Elizara Yaneva and Lidiya Encheva qualified for the quarterfinals of the singles of the international tennis tournament in the W50 category in Plovdiv. The two Bulgarians will meet in the next round, BTA reported.
The number 1 seed Elizara Yaneva defeated the Italian Laura Mair 6:2, 6:2 in an hour and 24 minutes. The 19-year-old from Plovdiv started by exchanging breaks, but at 2:1 she won four of the next five games and took the first set. In the second set, Yaneva led 5:1, conceded one break, but immediately responded with another break and ended the match.
The seventh seeded Lydia Encheva prevailed over Sappho Sakellaridi from Greece 7:6(3), 6:1 in a little over two hours. The Bulgarian convincingly won the tiebreak in the first set with 7:3 points, and in the second she achieved a series of five consecutive games.
Six Bulgarians continue in doubles
A total of six Bulgarians will participate in the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament. Elizara Yaneva and Beatrice Zeltina from Latvia will play against the leaders in the schedule Sappho Sakellaridi and Oana Gavrila from Romania.
The third seeds Rositsa Dencheva and Anya Stankovic will meet Mayuka Aikawa from Japan and Astrid Olsen from Norway. In an all-Bulgarian match, Melis Rasim and Daria Velikova will face Lidiya Encheva and Iva Ivanova.
In the other singles match, Valeria Garnevska, who participated with a wild card and is a bronze medalist at the European U18 Championship, lost to Anya Stankovic 2:6, 5:7. The tournament in Plovdiv is the third W50 in Bulgaria this year after the competitions in Haskovo and Pazardzhik.
Sources: BTA