Bulgarian tennis player Lia Karatancheva ended her singles campaign in the first round of the ITF W35 tournament in Heraklion, Greece. The competition is being played on clay and offers a €30,000 prize fund.
The 23-year-old Bulgarian, ranked 422nd in the world, lost 2:6, 3:6 to Spain's Lucia Cortes Llorca. It was the first meeting between the two at professional level.
Karatancheva was unable to find her rhythm at the start of the match and fell 2:5 behind in the first set. The Spanish tennis player took advantage of her lead and closed out the set 6:2 without much difficulty.
In the second set, the Bulgarian put up stronger resistance but missed an excellent opportunity to level the score. With the score at 3:4, she failed to convert seven break-point opportunities. In the following game, Cortes Llorca secured the decisive break and finished the match 6:3.
As a result, the defeat was Karatancheva's seventh consecutive loss in singles tournaments.
However, the Bulgarian is continuing her campaign in Heraklion in the doubles event. She is partnering Georgia's Sofia Shapatava, with the pair having already secured a place in the quarterfinals. Their next opponents will be Greece's Marianna Argyrokastriti and Lucia Cortes Llorca.