Zeltiņa scores career-best win, reaches W75 quarterfinals
Latvian tennis player Beatrise Zeltiņa defeated a higher-ranked Swedish opponent to advance to the quarterfinals of the W75 clay tournament.
At the W75 clay court tournament in northeastern Italy, Latvian tennis player Beatrise Zeltiņa (ranked 447th) achieved the biggest win of her career on Thursday, defeating Sweden's Kajsa Rinaldo-Persson (217th) 6:1, 1:6, 6:4 in the round of 16.
The 19-year-old Zeltiņa started strongly, breaking her opponent's serve on the fourth try to take a 2:0 lead. She went on to win the remaining games of the first set, closing it out 6:1.
In the second set, Zeltiņa lost her serve three times (0:1, 0:3, 1:6) and dropped the set 1:6. The third set was tightly contested: Zeltiņa fell behind 2:3 but fought back to level at 4:4. At that point, she earned two break points, and a double fault by her Swedish opponent gave Zeltiņa the lead. She then won the final game decisively, taking the set 6:4.
Zeltiņa had better first-serve percentage (78% to 64%) and won more total points (90 to 80). She recorded two aces and two double faults, while her opponent had no aces and four double faults. The match lasted 2 hours and 19 minutes.
For reaching the quarterfinals, Zeltiņa will earn approximately $1,543 and 16 ranking points. She already secured $935 and nine points for the round of 16. Her quarterfinal opponent will be determined later today.
This victory marks Zeltiņa's first against a player ranked inside the top 300. Her previous best wins had come against opponents ranked between 264th and 378th.
