Panna Bartha Stellar Performance at 25K ITF Women's World Tennis Tour W35 advances to quarterfinals

The Hungarian Panna Bartha beat Sayaka Ishii of Japan in round 16, moving on to the quarterfinals.

Panna Bartha during practice Sept. 6, 2023. (Photo/Gasner Delvarin Jr.)

February 8, 2024

Gasner Delvarin Jr.

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - Panna Bartha, the 19-year-old tennis player from Hungary, showcased her exceptional skills on clay courts at the 25K ITF Women's World Tennis Tour W35 held at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, Florida. In her recent match on Thursday afternoon, Bartha triumphed over Sayaka Ishii of Japan in a thrilling three-set encounter, with a final score of 1-6, 7-6, 6-2.

Bartha's journey to the quarterfinals was marked by remarkable victories, starting from the qualifying rounds of 32, where she defeated Victoria Gomez of Spain in a challenging three-set match 4-6, 6-4, 10-6, followed by a convincing win 6-3, 6-2 against Chieh-Yu Hsu of Chinese Tapei.  

Advancing to the main draw, Bartha continued her winning streak by defeating Mary Boyce Deatherage in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday.

Facing Ishii on court# 11 in the rounds of 16 main draw on Thursday, Bartha faced an early setback as Ishii dominated the first set, claiming victory in just 34 minutes. 

However, Bartha went to work and showcased resilience, bouncing back to win the second set 7-6 after a tense tiebreak, thereby leveling the match.

After two hours of play to start the third set, Ishii served to go up a game, but Bartha responded to level at 1-1. 

Bartha raised the pressure level and seized the opportunities to go up a break-point at 2-1.   

The 19-year-old served to secure a commanding lead at 3-1 in the third. Ishii, who couldn't afford to go down 4-1, gave two break-point chances in that service game to Bartha, but she held her serve to bring the score to 2-3, still in favor of Bartha.

Bartha got back to service game and pushed her lead to 4-2 after a short medical time-out. Later, she broke Ishii's serve again to take a comfortable lead at 5-2.

The Hungarian stayed dominant and served a forty-love to set up three match-point opportunities. Ishii could only save one as Bartha maintained her composure and closed the match with a convincing performance after 2h:47 minutes, resulting in a 1-6, 7-6, 6-2 victory.

Bartha advances to the quarterfinals, where she will face Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria for the first time head-to-head on Friday, 9. 

ITF, Gasner Delvarin Jr., Panna Bartha, Sayaka Ishii, Victoria Gomez, Chieh-Yu Hsu, Mary Boyce Deatherage, Sports, Top Stories, Women Tennis