The best Bulgarian tennis player Victoria Tomova lost 2:6, 2:6 to the hope of the hosts from Great Britain Sonai Kartal in a duel from the second round of "Wimbledon", sportal.bg reported.
The match started very evenly, but Kartal made a series of 4 consecutive games and took the first set 6:2. In the second, the 23-year-old Londoner took a 4:0 lead, which made things much easier for her.
The match was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. local time, but rain delayed the start of play on the outdoor courts.
Tomova eliminated Ons Jabour in the first round after the Tunisian retired at the beginning of the second set. The Sofian is still without a third round appearance at a "Grand Slam", and this was her sixth appearance in the second round.
Kartal, on the other hand, pulled off one of the surprises of the tournament so far in the first round, eliminating Jelena Ostapenko.
First set:
At the beginning of the match, both tennis players were winning the games in which they served without serious difficulties. At 1:1, Tomova took the first two points in the game in which her opponent was serving, but Kartal responded with 4 consecutive points and retired with a minimal lead of 2:1 at the first break of the match. Our first racket first hit her opponent on her serve, as this happened in the fifth game, but our girl was unable to fight for a break point and the British woman did not break, leading 3:2.
In the sixth game, it was Tomova's turn to defend her serve and unfortunately the Bulgarian woman could not hold on. She saved one break point, but the second was realized by Kartal and the British woman led 4:2. The 51st-ranked tennis player in the WTA rankings consolidated with a game of zero breaks and pulled away seriously ahead - 5:2. The British woman reached a break point in the next game of the Sofia player. Tomova was unable to counter it and after 35 minutes of play the first set ended - 6:2 for Kartal.
Second set:
In the first game of the second set, Tomova fought for her first break point in the match, but she was unable to convert it and Kartal took her serve. The match went in a completely negative direction for our first racket, who allowed two consecutive breaks and fell behind 0:4, and her task already seemed extremely difficult.
Things seemed irreparable for Tomova, but at that moment she made a series of 7 consecutive points, broke to zero and took her serve to reduce her gap in the score to 2:4. Kartal did not flinch and interrupted our girl's mini-series, coming within a game of victory at 5:2. A break of zero followed for the Englishwoman and she qualified for the third round after just 1 hour and 7 minutes of play.