National athlete Lia Karatancheva suffered an unexpected loss in the first round of the tennis tournament in the Spanish resort of Gran Canaria. The match against German player Emily Seibold lasted nearly two hours and forty minutes, ending with a score of 3:6, 6:3, 6:3 in favor of the foreigner.

The 21-year-old from Sofia started strongly and won the first set, achieving an early break. In the second part, however, her opponent demonstrated exceptional concentration, winning four consecutive games and leveling the score.

The crucial moment came in the third set, when Karatancheva won the initial game and reached an extremely favorable position at 40:0 on her opponent's serve. Despite this, she failed to realize the decisive break, which allowed Seibold to win five of the next six games.

The only consolation for the Bulgarian tennis player was her qualification in yesterday's doubles quarterfinal, which partially compensated for the loss in the individual competition.