Sonay Kartal and Arthur Fery pull off huge upsets on day one at Wimbledon
British number three Kartal and wild card Fery took out the respective women's and men's 20th seeds, with the former seeing off Jelena Ostapenko 7-5 2-6 6-2 and the latter defeating Alexei Popyrin 6-4 6-1 4-6 6-4.
For Fery, it is by a long distance the biggest victory of his life, with the 22-year-old's only top-100 win before this coming against then 99th ranked David Goffin two years ago.
BIGGEST WIN OF ARTHUR FERY'S CAREER!!! 🔥 @ArthurFery02 fights through to the @Wimbledon second round for the very first time, taking down the No. 20 seed Alexei Popyrin#BackTheBrits 🇬🇧 | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/NrX6gLdTuW
— LTA (@the_LTA) June 30, 2025
Fery, whose French father Loic owns Lorient football club, was not in the initial batch of wild cards named by the All England Club having seen his ranking drop outside the top 400 because of injury but a strong week at the second-tier Challenger event in Nottingham earlier this month earned him a pass.
He took advantage of it spectacularly to claim a first Wimbledon victory, and he will hope there is more to come with an unseeded opponent up next.
Kartal reached the third round as a qualifier 12 months ago but her hopes of another good run appeared to have been dealt a blow when she drew seasoned grass-court campaigner Ostapenko in round one.
The Latvian is a former semi-finalist and beat Kartal in Eastbourne last week but, after recovering from 5-2 down in the opening set and saving three set points, the 23-year-old also proved the stronger in the decider.
Ostapenko's body language became more and more negative as Kartal opened up a 5-0 lead in the third, and the British star appears to have a good chance of going further with Bulgarian outsider Viktoriya Tomova up next.
It is Kartal's third best win by ranking of her career and her best at a grand slam.
She described the match as one of the toughest she had ever played, saying: 'Typically I struggle against the big hitters. So to be able to do that, get the win in front of the home crowd, I'm super proud of that one.
'She can go through games, even sets, playing tennis that's just unplayable. The pace she gets on the ball and the angle she gets off the ball is honestly unreadable at times.
'I knew that was going to happen. I knew it happened last week. I knew I just had to stay with it. If she was going to go on a good run, just not get too down, and know that hopefully I was going to get my opportunity, and when I got the opportunity, to maximise it the most I could.
'I feel confident. I feel like this is the best I've ever played on grass. It's the most confident I've also got in my game, as well. I think I'm in a pretty good spot for round two.'
Kartal's win was swiftly followed by another notable British success, this time for debutant Oliver Tarvet, who made it four victories in a row after coming through qualifying with a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win over Swiss Leandro Riedi.
Former British number one Cameron Norrie claimed his first win on grass this year with a narrow 6-3 3-6 6-4 7-6 (3) victory over Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut.
Big WIN for @cam_norrie at @Wimbledon 🙌
Cam beats an in-form Bautista Agut to move into the second round#BackTheBrits 🇬🇧 | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/1Tm79V2KuK
— LTA (@the_LTA) June 30, 2025
Norrie rediscovered his form on clay after almost dropping out of the top 100 and will next take on 12th seed Frances Tiafoe.
Billy Harris was another Briton to progress on day one.
The world number 151 won 6-3 6-2 6-4 against Serbian lucky loser Dusan Lajovic and will face Portuguese Nuno Borges in round two.
But former boys' champion Henry Searle and wild card Oliver Crawford were both knocked out in four sets by American world number 89 Ethan Quinn and Italian world number 73 Mattia Bellucci respectively, while Harriet Dart lost to Hungary's Dalma Galfi 3-6 6-3 7-5.
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