Bulgaria's top women's player Elizara Yaneva started her participation in the WTA 125 hard court tennis tournament in the Italian winter resort of Courmayeur with a resounding success, with a prize fund of 115 thousand euros.
The 19-year-old from Plovdiv left no chance for the "wild card" representative of the hosts Jessica Pieri, breaking her with 6:2, 6:2 in exactly 70 minutes of play.
The first part started evenly at 2:2, but then the Bulgarian switched to a higher gear. With two breaks and four consecutive games, Yaneva closed the set with 6:2. In the second part, her momentum continued and she quickly took a 5:1 lead. Although the Italian returned a break, the Bulgarian national responded with another breakthrough for the final 6:2, sealing her advancement.
With this success, Elizara Yaneva secured 15 points for the WTA world rankings, in which she occupies a career-high 139th place this week, as well as 1,740 euros from the prize fund.
In the second round (round of 16), the Bulgarian awaits the winner of the match between the third seed Oksana Selehmeteva (Spain) and Adrienne Nad (Hungary).