Bulgarian tennis players George Lazarov and Alexander Tolev recorded great successes in the first round of singles of the main draw of the clay tennis tournament in Kursumlijska Banja, Serbia.
The competition has a prize fund of 30 thousand dollars and attracts serious competition.
Return for George Lazarov and upcoming Bulgarian derby
The 21-year-old Bulgarian state champion George Lazarov demonstrated exceptional character and defeated the Italian Gabriele Penaforti 6:4, 6:4 in 1 hour and 52 minutes of play. In both sets, Lazarov showed stability, making up for an early deficit of 1:3 games. With this triumph, he secured a place in the round of 16, where he will face 7th seed Alexander Vassilev in an all-Bulgarian clash.
First big success among men for Alexander Tolev
17-year-old Alexander Tolev, who entered the main draw after three clean wins in the qualifiers, was also impeccable. He decisively defeated Australian Stefan Kostic 6:1, 6:3. This is a historic first victory for Tolev in the main draw of a men's tournament on the ITF World Tennis Tour. In the next phase of the competition in Serbia, the young talent will face Russian qualifier Andrey Chepelev.
Later today, the homegrown talents will move the battle to the doubles tournament, where Lazarov and Radoslav Shandarov will face Alexander Vassilev and Timofey Derepasko (Russia).
The information about the successes of the homegrown talents has been confirmed by the official sports broadcasts of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (bta.bg) and the Bulgarian National Television (bntnews.bg).