Eastwood was one of nine players under 24-years-old who faced a strong Bulgaria side that had gone more than two years without a home defeat.

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But recently he got a phone call asking him to play in a Sevens tournament in Bulgaria with some old friends from the amateur era, and having caught the bug again, played in another one a couple of weeks later.

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The Italian faces Romania's Monica Niculescu next after the 23-year-old beat 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4 6-1.

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In 1946, 9-year-old King Simeon II and his family fled Bulgaria and went into exile as Communists seized power and rigged a plebiscite to get rid of the monarchy.

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Bulgaria had to close four of its old reactors at Kozloduy as a precondition for its 2007 EU membership.

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