Bulgarian national player for the "Billie Jean King Cup" Lia Karatancheva was eliminated in the first round of the tennis tournament on red courts in Gran Canaria (Spain) with a prize pool of 100 thousand dollars, BTA reported.
The Bulgarian lost to the German qualifier Emily Seibold with 6:3, 3:6, 3:6 after 2:39 hours of play.
The 21-year-old from Sofia made an early breakthrough and kept her lead until the end of the first set. In the second half, Seibold pulled away with 4:1 and managed to equalize the score. In the decisive third set, the Bulgarian won the first game, then led 40:0 on the opponent's serve, but failed to reach a break, and subsequently the German took five of the last six games to form the turnaround.
Karatancheva qualified for the doubles quarterfinals yesterday.