A British tennis player of Turkish descent is through to the third round of the Ladies Singles at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. Sonay Kartal, who was ranked 298 for these Championships, beat France’s Clara Burel, who is ranked 42nd in the world, in the second round.
The match, played on No. 3 Court on Wednesday, went to three sets, with Kartal winning the first, losing the second, before recovering to win the third and the match (6-3, 5-7, 6-3).
Kartal had previously triumphed against 29th seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania in the first round. The match had also gone to three sets, with Kartal losing the first set, but then won the next two (3-6, 6-2,6-0).
She now faces a tough challenge in her third round tie against the second seed, Coco Gauff. The American won the US Open last year and lifted the Women’s doubles title with her partner Katerina Siniaková at this year’s French Open.
The Kartal-Gauff match will take place on No. 1 Court around 4.15pm on Friday.
Kartal, who is Turkish through her father, is ninth in the British ranking of female tennis players. The 22-year-old turned pro in 2021 and has won 11 International Tennis Federation (ITF) titles to date.
She had to qualify for this year’s Wimbledon Championships after she had battled with undisclosed health problems for much of the past year, but she put those issues behind her to produce a career-best run at Wimbledon. Kartal’s progress will no doubt see her rise up the global rankings too.
Main image, top, of Sonay Kartal photos from Wimbledon 2022 via her page on Facebook.
