
Sonay Kartal shines at Wimbledon with stunning first-round upset
Ostapenko, a former semi-finalist back in 2018, defeated Kartal in Eastbourne last week in straight sets but the British number three delighted the sun-baked crowd on Court Three with a 7-5 2-6 6-2 victory.
It is Kartal's third best win by ranking of her career and her best at a grand slam, with the 23-year-old producing another strong performance at the All England Club after reaching the third round as a qualifier 12 months ago.
Things did not begin well for Kartal, who was quickly 3-0 down and finding little answer to the power hitting of her Latvian opponent.
Ostapenko had three set points at 5-4 after Kartal had retrieved the early break but the British player, ranked 51, held firm and took full advantage of her opponent's disappointment to make it five games in a row and win the opener.
Ostapenko responded well to level the match but Kartal did not allow the contest to get away from her, breaking serve early in the decider and racing into a 5-0 lead.
Ostapenko's body language indicated she would be more than happy to get off the court and, although she rallied to win two games, Kartal served out the victory at the second time of asking.
In the second round, Kartal will face Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova, who profited from Ons Jabeur's retirement.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
34 minutes ago
- The Independent
Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova survives scare in Wimbledon opener
The defending champion losing in the first round of Wimbledon is vanishingly rare. Until Marketa Vondrousova crumbled in her opener last year, earning an unwanted place in the history books, it hadn't been done – on the women's side – since Steffi Graf had a campaign to forget in 1994. But a day after Carlos Alcaraz required four-and-a-half hours and five sets to see off Italian journeyman Fabio Fognini, the 'potential upset' alarm bells rang once more as women's defending champion Barbora Krejcikova found herself wilting in the south London heat against an inspired Alexandra Eala. Having already made history and broken records for the Philippines, Eala, on her debut at Wimbledon, fancied writing another chapter, before ultimately succumbing 6-3, 2-6, 1-6. Tennis crowds – and Wimbledon in particular – love a plucky underdog. The irony here is that 56th-ranked Eala wasn't really an underdog, having shot up the rankings and proven herself equal to the big stage. The 20-year-old is no stranger to a giant-killing: she beat three top-10 players en route to a maiden WTA 1000 semi-final, in Miami earlier this year, including that instantly memorable, superb victory over Iga Swiatek. In fact, Wimbledon's win predictor gave her a narrow edge over Krejcikova. What should have been a huge gulf between an exciting youngster and an established player, the defending champion, was instead a much more level battlefield. Krejcikova has played just six matches this year after a back injury derailed the early part of her season, and no sooner was she back, reaching the quarter-finals at Eastbourne, than a thigh injury forced her to pull out. She came into Wimbledon with a huge question mark hanging over her. Seeing Eala's name in the draw on Friday was probably not what she was after. It was Krejcikova who struck first in an error-strewn first set, sealing a break with an inch-perfect lob over the youngster's head that just kissed the baseline. But it was Eala, on her Wimbledon debut, who ultimately pulled ahead, scrapping back each time she fell down a break under the blazing sunshine on Centre Court. The arena, the occasion: neither seemed to faze her as she took advantage of poor serving from the defending champion, who hit five double faults in the opening set and struggled to control her forehand. At 3-2 Krejcikova followed an ace with a double fault and as her game broke down, Eala upped the intensity, firing down two winners to break, and pull away with the first set. Krejcikova earned an immediate chance to break back, but a succession of errors saw it slip away. Centre Court didn't seem to mind the scrappiness of the encounter, cheering on Eala as she earned a set point on Krejcikova's serve, with the Czech seventh seed eventually finding her first serve to cling onto the hold. But the volume kicks up another notch as Eala sent a forehand fizzing cross-court for set point on her own serve, and sealed it with a rare ace. It looked like the Filipino might run away with a stunning upset, but Krejcikova – a largely muted presence on court – looked undaunted. She wrestled back momentum and quietened the crowd with a hold to love to start the second set, and having rediscovered both her serve and her forehand, the second set was one-way traffic. She broke to 15 and came back from 15-40 down to hold, securing a double break with a winner down the line. Suddenly painting the lines and covering every inch of the court, the Czech was in the ascendancy. Things went haywire as Eala, swinging with greater freedom, broke as Krejcikova served for the set, but the youngster continued to leak errors and a shot blasted wide handed over the set. The stakes heightened in the one-set shootout, both players cut more animated figures, willing themselves onto the finish line. Krejcikova roared with relief as she held after a difficult first service game, and that set the tone. Eala skewed a sitter of a volley wide to hand over the crucial break for 2-0, and Krejcikova began to move through the gears, forcing yet more errors from her young opponent. Ultimately experience and guile – this is Krejcikova's ninth Wimbledon – triumphed over youthful enthusiasm. Eala never lost her belief, with nearly every game going to deuce, but couldn't find a way through the Czech's superior hitting. A backhand winner down the line and an accompany roar sealed the victory for the defending champion – and staved off an unwanted footnote in history. Early on Court 2 – the 'graveyard of champions' – Jessica Pegula set the tone for a day of upsets, as the third seed lost to a sublime Elisabeth Cocciaretto 6-2, 6-3 in just 58 minutes. The American won the warm-up tournament in Bad Homberg last week, defeating Iga Swiatek for a maiden grass-court title, and may have had something of a hangover from playing so close to the start of Wimbledon. Her first-round exit continues an indifferent record in SW19, having only made the second week once in six attempts, when she reached the quarter-finals in 2023. Fifth seed Zheng Qinwen suffered a similar fate later on Court 3, falling in straight sets to Olympic mixed doubles champion Katerina Siniakova, marking her third first-round exit in a row at Wimbledon.


Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Wimbledon star who had his career funded by Novak Djokovic is forced to retire from first-round match after collapsing in agony
A Wimbledon star who has had his career funded by Novak Djokovic has been forced to retire in his first round match after collapsing. The Championships continues in soaring temperatures on day two, with a number of players in first round action with the sweltering heat proving difficult to play through in some cases. While the likes of Carlos Alvaraz and Emma Raducanu were in action on day one, day two would play host to the likes of Coco Gauff, while Djokovic himself was pencilled in to feature on Centre Court on Tuesday. Elsewhere, though, at the All England club, some of the lesser-known names were doing their best to compete for important prize money and progress in the tournament. That included down on Court Eight, which played host to Hamad Medjedovic and Sebastian Ofner in their first round match in the men's singles. Things were going well up until the end of the first set, which featured a hard-fought tiebreak with Serb Medjedovic, 21, 8-7 up. Then, though, things went south. Medjedovic slipped at the back of the court when he had set point, trying to change direction with his legs ending up heading opposite ways. He let out a cry of pain, with the umpire rushing to check up on him. A physio also entered the court as he was shaded from the sun by a ball girl. Though clearly in some discomfort, the star limped back to his chair after a lengthy delay. On the very next point, though, he slipped again as his left ankle buckled. He lost the set and departed the court for a medial time-out. After a 14 minute break, though, he fought on. It didn't take long until the game was done, however, with Medjedovic 3-1 down in the second set and deciding to call it a day, sacrificing his spot in the competition. Now world No 73, Medjedovic had his early career funded by Djokovic, as the 24-time grand slam champion paid for expenses for his countryman. Djokovic would help out with travel, coaching and other expenses, helping Medjedovic to rise through the ranks and ultimately win the Next Gen ATP finals and end up on the circuit. The duo have also played together in the Davis Cup. Now, though, Djokovic's prodigy is out, with it unsure how serious his injury is. He has never made it through the first round at Wimbledon before.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Alex de Minaur and Daria Kasatkina put Wimbledon challenge back on track
Australia's Wimbledon challenge has been reinvigorated with the national No 1s Alex de Minaur and Daria Kasatkina claiming wins on day two. After a disastrous first day that saw seven Australians knocked out, the pair raced into the second round by early afternoon and were swiftly joined by Aleksandar Vukic. On another hot day in London, 16th seed Kasatkina became the first Aussie woman to clear the opening hurdle with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Colombian Emiliana Arango. Having lost her three matches on grass this season, it was no surprise Kasatkina made hard work of subduing her lively opponent, and she revealed she had been so nervous in her first Wimbledon since switching her allegiance to Australia that she vomited outside just before entering court 14. 'A lot of people saw it five metres from the court. I vomit, so just before entering the court, yes, the little accident happened, like, completely out of nerves,' she explained. 'There was nothing else wrong with me except this. The nerves came from not having enough confidence, losing couple of matches in a row, playing the first match of the day.' She did not help her cause by dishing up 11 double faults and 38 unforced errors against the world No 76, but the South American contributed to her own defeat, making 39 errors of her own. De Minaur was far more authoritative in his first grand slam appearance since taking a break after his calamitous second-round exit at the French Open, beating Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-2) in two hours 25 minutes. Despite a delay for an unwell ball boy just as he was serving to stay in the third set at 5-6, de Minaur came through. The No 11 seed's form was encouraging given his lack of match practice on grass. He had skipped his defence of 's-Hertogenbosch to recover from feeling burned out after his early exit from Roland Garros, then lost in the first round at Queen's Club. Vukic had a useful workout in beating Chinese Taipei's Chun-Hsin Tseng 6-3 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-5) in four minutes over three hours. That set up a daunting meeting with world No 1 Jannik Sinner who made an impressive start to his Wimbledon campaign beating compatriot Luca Nardi 6-4 6-3 6-0. However, two Aussie qualifiers lost. Priscilla Hon went down 6-2 7-5 to Russian 18th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova while Sydney's James McCabe struggled on his Wimbledon main draw debut, well beaten 6-1 6-4 6-3 by Hungary's world No.58, Fabian Marozsan.