Rositsa Dencheva’s heart was fluttering as she bounced about on her feet in the seconds before clinching a stirring triumph in the Roland Garros girls singles in Paris on Sunday.

The Bulgarian had played beautifully against No. 2 seed Kristina Penickova on Court 8 to reach the brink of victory, but actually winning the match point was proving a struggle.

Prior to her match against the talented American, Dencheva was not convinced she could win, especially given Penickova’s powerful game and strong results on the ITF Junior Tour.

But buoyed by the support of a passionate group of Bulgarian fans, the right-hander was able to secure a 6-4 6-1 victory in 1hr 16min to reach the second round.

“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.

“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 thrill of playing in front of fans from her nation added to the delight she felt, with Dencheva saying the atmosphere around the Roland Garros site was wonderful.

“It's super nice. It's super warm. And here, especially, I have many Bulgarians who are supporting me,” she said.

“Just to hear my name and just to hear the Bulgarians cheering for me, it was just an amazing feeling and I'm glad that I didn't disappoint them.”

Dencheva demonstrated pleasing variety throughout the match against the highly-regarded Penickova, mixing up the trajectory and spin of her ground strokes to change rhythm in points.

The 18-year-old has a WTA Tour ranking of 438 and has recently been competing against senior players in ITF tournaments, which she credits with helping her game development.

“There are many aspects to work on. Recently, I've been focusing more on the pro tournaments, since this is my last year at the juniors,” she said.

“Obviously the women, they have more experience and they know how to handle different situations better than the juniors and they play more variable, not just from the baseline.

“So I'm trying also to do that, to play different kinds of shots, like slices, and also approach the net more. That's from my experience in the pro tournaments.”

As a girl Dencheva loved rhythmic gymnastics but switched her primary focus to tennis, a sport she began playing at four, from the age of 12 when her family moved to Sofia.

As a proud Bulgarian, she has been inspired by the performances of Grigor Dimitrov, who has been flying the flag for the nation with distinction for many years.

“I started playing just by seeing the kids in the park playing,” she said. “I mean, none of my family were playing tennis, so I just saw the kids while we were walking in the park with my mum and I just enjoyed it. I said to my mum, ‘If you don't sign me up, I'm not going to move’. So that's how I started playing tennis.

“But obviously many Bulgarians inspire me with their results and everything. Recently, Grigor Dimitrov has had really good results in almost every tournament. I'm really happy that he's doing that and I hope I manage to reach his ranking and his performance one day.”

In other results of note, 14-year-old Jana Kovackova showed considerable determination to defeat Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Kotliar 6-4 2-6 7-5 in a match lasting 2hr 19min.

The Czech right-hander played with lovely shape on her ground strokes but was also capable of some thunderous shots as well, which included a blazing backhand on match point.