Semenistaja Opens Lisbon Tournament with Doubles Defeat

Latvian tennis player Darja Semenistaja lost in the first round of the doubles event at the Lisbon "WTA 125" series tournament in Portugal on Monday. The WTA is the Women's Tennis Association, the professional women's tour, and this event belongs to its "125" series. Playing alongside Kazakhstan's Zhibek Kulambayeva, Semenistaja started as part of the third-seeded pair but did not advance.

How the match went

The Latvian-Kazakh duo lost 4-6, 6-0, 7:10 to an international pairing of Greece's Marta Matula and Italy's Giorgia Pedone. Semenistaja and Kulambayeva dropped the first set and then won the second 6-0, but they were beaten in the deciding third set, which was played to 10 points.

For taking part in the doubles event, Semenistaja received one point in the WTA rankings.

What comes next in singles

Semenistaja is also entered in the singles tournament, where she is seeded fourth. Latvia's second-ranked player, she stands 131st in the WTA rankings. In her opening match she will face one of the lucky qualifiers from the qualifying tournament, whose identity was not yet known.

The Lisbon tournament is played on clay courts and finishes on Sunday.