SAN DIEGO — No. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva knocked off top-seeded Louisa Chirico, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, on Friday morning to advance to the semifinals of the ITF-100 at Barnes Tennis Center.
Both players were steady on serve early, holding comfortably through the first 10 games of the opening set. Kalieva created the only break-point chance during that stretch, but Chirico escaped trouble at 4-3. The breakthrough finally came when Kalieva broke Chirico at love to go up 6-5, but she was unable to serve out the set, sending it to a tiebreak.
Chirico surged ahead 6-3 in the breaker and held three set points, but Kalieva rattled off four straight points to take a 7-6 lead before Chirico leveled it at 7-7. Kalieva then won the final two points to capture the set, 9-7, in a momentum-shifting finish.
The second set followed a similar pattern early, with both players holding serve cleanly through 3-2. At 30-all in the sixth game, however, Kalieva slipped and appeared to turn her ankle. After a medical timeout, she resumed play with her ankle taped and showed no visible signs of limitation.
Kalieva immediately turned the moment into an opportunity, converting her first break point of the set to take a 4-2 lead. Chirico responded with a quick break of her own to close the gap to 4-3, but Kalieva regrouped on Chirico’s serve. On her third break-point chance of the game, she broke again to go up 5-3.
Kalieva then served out the match, closing with authority to seal the straight-sets victory.
Elvina Kalieva serves.
“I have great memories from juniors here,” Chirico said. “I like this club and I like the courts. They suit my game. I really like playing here and I get a lot of support from the crowd.”
Next Up
Kalieva will face Jennifer Brady in Saturday’s semifinal. Brady defeated No. 3 seed Cadence Brace earlier Friday, 7-5, 6-4.
