Liya Karatancheva Defeats Roland Garros Semifinalist in a Major Tournament in Turkey
Liya Karatancheva, competing for the Bulgarian national team in the “Billie Jean King Cup,” continues her impressive performance. The Bulgarian athlete has advanced to the singles quarterfinals of the WTA 125 women’s clay court tennis tournament held in Antalya, securing a spot in the $115,000 prize pool.
Karatancheva defeated world No. 163 and 2021 Roland Garros semifinalist, Slovenian Tamara Zidanšek, with a remarkable comeback, winning 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(0). The match lasted 2 hours and 21 minutes.
In the first set, the Bulgarian player broke serve twice but lost 2-6. In the second set, despite falling behind 0-2, she staged a strong comeback, winning eight consecutive games. This allowed her to take the set 6-2 and push the match to a decisive third set. Karatancheva took a 2-0 lead in the final set and extended it to 5-2, but she couldn’t maintain her advantage as Zidanšek fought back to level the score at 5-5. However, in the tie-break, the Bulgarian player dominated with a 7-0 victory to close out the match.
This victory marked Karatancheva’s fourth consecutive win in the tournament. Before reaching the main draw, she also secured two victories in the qualifiers.
Having reached the quarterfinals, Karatancheva will now face the winner of the match between China’s Xinyu Gao and Australia’s Astra Sharma for a place in the semifinals.
Additionally, Karatancheva is on the verge of achieving her best-ever ranking in the WTA standings, which will be confirmed next week.
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