Rositsa Dencheva secured a significant victory at the Roland Garros girls singles in Paris, defeating No. 2 seed Kristina Penickova. The Bulgarian player won 6-4, 6-1 on Court 8, advancing to the second round. Despite initial doubts about her chances against the American, Dencheva was encouraged by a group of Bulgarian supporters.
“Definitely this one means a lot to me,” she said. “Honestly I didn’t go with many expectations on the court. I didn’t even expect to win. I was just hoping to play a good match and to enjoy the atmosphere here.”
Dencheva expressed satisfaction with her performance, especially given the pressure of playing against a higher-seeded opponent at such a prestigious event. “So at the end of the match, I got a bit tight, obviously, because I had a huge chance to win over the second seed and at Roland Garros. But I’m glad I managed to close out the match.”
The support from fellow Bulgarians added to her joy. “It’s super nice. It’s super warm. And here, especially, I have many Bulgarians who are supporting me,” she said.
At 18 years old and ranked 438th in WTA Tour rankings, Dencheva has been competing in ITF tournaments against senior players to improve her game. She noted that these experiences have helped her develop new strategies and skills.
“There are many aspects to work on,” she stated. “Recently, I’ve been focusing more on the pro tournaments since this is my last year at the juniors.”
Dencheva’s journey into tennis began when she was four years old after watching other children play in a park. Inspired by Grigor Dimitrov’s success for Bulgaria, she hopes to achieve similar results.
“I started playing just by seeing the kids in the park playing,” she explained.
In another notable result from Roland Garros, Jana Kovackova defeated Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Kotliar in three sets.