Five Bulgarian tennis players have advanced to the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles competition at the tournament in Sofia, which carries a total prize fund of ,000, BNR reported. Matches are being played on the courts of Tennis Club “Diana”, but due to adverse weather conditions on Tuesday, play was relocated to the facilities of Tennis Club “Dema”.
Among those progressing in the doubles are Alexander Vassilev, Viktor Markov, Plamen Milushev, David Simeonov, and Nikola Keremedchiev. Vassilev, who is just 18, teamed up with Russia’s Vardan Manukyan to secure a 6:0, 2:6, 10-6 victory over Samuel Kyjaci of Slovakia and Michalis Sakellaridis of Greece in the first round.
Markov and Milushev earned a hard-fought win against the fourth-seeded pairing of Vesa Antti (Finland) and Fons van Sambeek (Netherlands), prevailing 6:3, 6:7(1), 10-7. In the next round, they will face fellow Bulgarians Simeonov and Keremedchiev, who moved forward after their opponents Dinko Dinev and Nikita Bilozertsev of Ukraine retired at 5:5 in the opening set.
Later today, five additional Bulgarian players are scheduled to compete in first-round doubles action. Mihail Ivanov and Erik Vladimirov are set to face off against Yoan Naydenov and Japan’s Marcus Kobayashi. Meanwhile, Radoslav and Vasil Shandarov will take on the French duo of Alexander Aubrio and Valentin Lapalle.
In the singles competition, Plamen Milushev earned a spot in the main draw after progressing through the qualifiers. He defeated top-seeded Oskar Grzegorzewski of Poland in a closely contested match, coming from behind to win 4:6, 6:2, 11-9. Prior to that, Milushev posted two straight-set victories. His opening opponent in the main draw will be France’s Valentin Lapalle.
Elsewhere in the qualifying rounds, George Lazarov fell in the third round to Italy’s Andrea Baccaloni with a 2:6, 2:6 scoreline. Yoan Naydenov was eliminated in the first round of the main draw after a 1:6, 1:6 loss to Ukraine’s Nikita Bilozertsev.
Four more Bulgarian players will begin their singles campaigns on Wednesday. Wimbledon junior semifinalist Alexander Vassilev will face qualifier Vladimir Ignatic of Belarus. Dinko Dinev, seeded seventh, will play against France’s Mathieu Scaglia. Anas Mazdrashki has been drawn against third-seeded Juan Estevez of Argentina, while Viktor Markov will take on Alexandre Aubriot, also from France.