LONDON: Britain’s Sonay Kartal surged into the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time on Friday with a remarkable turnaround performance against French qualifier Diane Parry as she won nine games in a row to come from 4-1 down to triumph 6-4 6-2.
Parry, who hammered 12th seed Diana Shnaider in the last round, was in control early on but the Briton eventually got to grips with the challenge and, roared on by a partisan Number One court crowd, began an unstoppable comeback that secured the first set and put her 4-0 up in the second.
Parry’s spirit seemed to have disappeared along with her accuracy and the 23-year-old battling Briton took full advantage with a relentless forehand fusillade to claim the biggest victory of her injury-hit career.
“I think everyone saw that I started off pretty nervous – it’s definitely the biggest and most meaningful stage that I’ve played on,” Kartal said.
“I’ve got a lot of people here and I really wanted to do them proud and do myself proud.”
When Kartal upset 20th seed Jelena Ostapenko in the first round on Monday it launched a great day for Britain with an Open Era record seven players advancing, and another three on Tuesday.
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Four days later only her and Emma Raducanu and Cameron Norrie remain, and the former US Open champion and regular junior rival of Kartal’s faces a huge challenge to also progress to the fourth when she faces world number one Aryna Sabalenka later.
For a while it did not look as if Kartal would have a chance of making a first Grand Slam last 16 appearance as Parry made a composed and confident start.
The Frenchwoman’s low, skiddy backhand slice proved really challenging for the diminutive Briton and she was looking in command at 4-1 up.
Parry then saved three break points in the sixth game, only for Kartal to succeed on a fourth and that proved the turning point of the entire match.
With the crowd loving the fightback she looked visibly lifted and more mobile and set about a remarkable run of games, hitting harder and deeper and forcing Parry into ever-more desperate defence.
In a flash she had claimed the set and was 4-0 up in the second and, even though Parry eventually stemmed the flow, it was merely a delay in proceedings.
Kartal has enjoyed a great year and will now move into the world’s top 50, saying consistency has been the key.
“I was doing a lot of good things on the practice court and I was playing with a lot of freedom and I always trusted that eventually it would transfer onto the match court,” she said.
“With every match, every week that I’m playing the bigger events, I’m growing more confident as a player and as a person.”
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