Sonay Kartal was one of eight British women granted a wild card into the qualifying event for the 2024 edition of Wimbledon.
Ranked 298 in the world, she had never made it past the first round of qualifying in her previous three attempts at grand slams. But this year, she made it all the way to the main draw.
First she defeated Dutch player Suzan Lamen in straight sets, then China’s Sijia Wei 6-1 in the third, followed by 5th seed Erika Andreeva (elder sister of Mirra) in 3 and 1.
For the last three months of 2023, Kartal was unable to play due to a serious health condition. The 22 year old returned for two ITF events in January before having to stop again. She resumed training in April and played three hardcourt ITF events, winning Nottingham 2 and Monzón, before switching to grass.
Just before Wimbledon she made the quarter finals on the lawn courts of the ITF 100 Ilkey Trophy.
“I didn’t think that I’d be on court this year, so I managed to get back after a few months and go straight into the deep end and play some big events. So I’m super proud of that.”
Unlike the past two years, when Kartal had a wild card directly into the main draw at Wimbledon, playing the three qualifying matches possibly prepared her better.
In the main draw, she had the best result of her career, winning a grand slam match. To do so, she defeated world No. 31, Rumanian Sorana Cîrstea, who became the highest ranked opponent she’s beaten.
She defended two set points in the opening set, though Cîrstea won the third.
Kartal’s determination got her a break in the sixth game of the second set, which she went on to win. The final set began with a 14 minute to-and-fro game which Kartal eventually claimed.
Ultimately, she won the last 10 games of the match for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 result.
For a player who’s preferred surface is hardcourt, she has always shown good skills on the grass.
Kartal then downed world No.45 Clara Burel of France, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, to make the third round. She started strongly, going up 6-3 3-0, before Burel came back to take the second set, 7-5. The Brit relied on her powerful forehand to win the decider, 6-3.
Having beaten two top 50 players, she now made the leap to world No. 2 Coco Gauff. That leap was a little too far. She began by losing her serve to love in the opening game, then watched Gauff hold to love.
As the rain fell on the roof of No. 1 Court, Kartal steadied to play a competitive first set, even breaking a frustrated Gauff to get back on serve for 4-4.
After Gauff won the next two games for 6-4, she let out a huge roar, seemingly of relief.
Gauff had seemed a little surprised by Kartel’s level of play. When asked at her second round press conference what she knew about Kartel as a possible next opponent, she had said, “I don’t know much, to be honest”.
But Gauff learned quickly, cut her errors and steamrolled through the second set 6-0.
After the match, she offered her view of Kartal’s game. “She was playing a high level. She wasn’t giving me much to work with. She does a good job of mixing up variety so you never feel settled and she’s obviously a very quick player.”
The progress Kartal made at Wimbledon meant a move of over 100 places in the world rankings to a career high of No. 193, and a payday from the tournament of £143,000.
She withdrew from the ITF W50 Corroios-Seixal hardcourt tournament in Portugal – with a total prize pool of £31,000 to distribute amongst 16 players – scheduled to begin on 8th July.
At her post-match press conference she explained, “I was supposed to be playing an ITF tournament next week. There’s going to be a few changes to my tournaments.
“I think before this week I wasn’t sure if I was going to make US Open qualies or not, whereas now after this week I’ll be in there.”
Title photo by Simone Kemler