Brit Sonay Kartal upsets Jelena Ostapenko in Wimbledon first round
The 23-year-old established herself on the grass courts of SW19 last year, when she got to the third round while ranked No. 298 in the world. That year she went out to Coco Gauff. The early signs this year show that Kartal is once again well up for putting on a show in front of her home crowd, and a run in the tournament could see her break into the world's top 50.
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In the unforgiving heat, Kartal restricted Ostapenko's trademark, flat-hitting power to impose her own tricky game on the Latvian, holding firm in some nervy moments to earn one of her most impressive career victories to date.
'That was one of the toughest matches I have played. I struggle against the big hitters, she beat me easily last week,' Kartal said courtside. 'Thank you to everyone for coming out.
'After the year I had last year, I am happy to put myself under pressure to succeed. Last year I left this tournament feeling a different player. I want to see how far I can go this week.'
Kartal immediately fell a break behind in the opening set, going 5-2 and then 5-4 down. With Ostapenko holding three set points for the opener, the Brit clawed her way back into contention. With the momentum on her side, Kartal charged ahead, claiming another break and holding to 15 for the set.
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Ostapenko responded well, romping to parity by taking the second set within 33 minutes. Two straightforward breaks were enough to level the match, seemingly putting herself in pole position to come from a set down. But Ostapenko, who twisted her ankle ahead of Wimbledon and was a doubt until late into last week, could not regain her footing.
Kartal instead dominated the third set, securing three consecutive breaks to put herself in a near insurmountable position. Serving for a bagel set, she appeared to let the pressure show as she was broken to 15 in a nervy-looking few moments. But despite Ostapenko's subsequent hold, the No. 20 seed could not prevent the Brit from sealing the match on serve.
The jubilant crowd on the No. 2 Court jumped to their feet following the first British success story of the tournament. Kartal's victory over Daria Kasatkina at Queen's earlier this month represented just her second win over top-20 opposition, and while Ostapenko is ranked just one place outside that category, it represents a big scalp for the Brit.
Viktoriya Tomova now stands in the way of Kartal's matching last year's breakthrough Wimbledon run.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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