Sonay Kartal reaches Wimbledon fourth round for first time after sweeping past Parry

The Guardian

a day ago

British tennis may have found its newest rising star after Sonay Kartal reached the fourth round at a major for the first time with a dominant 6-4, 6-2 victory over the French qualifier Diane Parry.
The Brighton native becomes the fourth unseeded British woman to reach the fourth round at SW19 this century after Laura Robson (2013), Emma Raducanu (2021 and 2024) and Heather Watson (2022).
This time last year, she was ranked 259th in the world. Now she is the world No 51 and may rise above her career high of No 49 if her form continues.
Kartal started this third-round match on No 1 Court aggressively, putting Parry on the defensive, and unleashing an overhead smash to lead 30-15 in her opponent's opening service game.
The Frenchwoman, 22, rallied with a beautiful forehand down the line before Kartal brought the game to deuce and earned a break point. Parry, undeterred, saved it with a well-placed volley and ultimately held serve after a hard-fought six-minute game.
The British No 3 fired down two successive aces but followed those up with a double fault. Parry's willingness to approach the net paid off handsomely, as a deft backhand volley earned her a break point, which she converted.
Parry held serve to 30 in the third game, with a slice from her single-handed backhand. The world No 103 continued to dominate at the net, executing a stretch volley winner off an attempted backhand pass but eventually – after 21 minutes of play – Kartal finally got on the board, holding serve to 30.
'I was pretty nervous,' said Kartal. 'It's a big court with a match that has a lot of meaning to me. Obviously last year, that was also in the back of my mind, losing to Coco [Gauff] on the same court in the same round. I tried to take everything I learned from that match and put it into play on the court. I tried to relax as best as I could. Losing 4-1, I just tried to get back on the scoreboard one by one.'
The tide began to turn in the sixth game of the first set with Kartal holding serve with an ace to finish the job. She surged to a 40-0 lead in the next game, earning three break points. Parry bravely saved the first two before a tense, cat-and-mouse rally: Kartal attempted a drop shot, Parry dug out a shot to the baseline and Kartal, opting for a down-the-line backhand instead of an obvious lob, hit her shot into the net. A double fault presented Kartal with a fourth break point which she secured.
At this juncture, the home player's ground strokes began to find their mark, much to Parry's frustration. Kartal consolidated the break by holding serve to 30 and, suddenly, it was the unforced error count across the net that was climbing, reaching 15 for the set as the 23-year-old levelled at 4-4.
An extra bounce in her step and increased confidence in her shot-making were palpable. Momentum swung. Kartal dug deep, battling back from deuce, to break Parry once more, taking a 5-4 lead after a fourth double fault from her opponent. Serving to take a set that initially looked done and dusted, Kartal hit two unreturned serves.
'I kind of trusted in my game that eventually I was going to start to relax into it, whether that was me winning the first set or losing,' said Kartal. 'I knew I probably had maybe an hour left on this court, so I was trying to give everything I had in the tank for that one.'
Frustration began to mount for the French player in the second set with a meekly sliced backhand into the net, offering Kartal two immediate break points – she took the game with a sliced backhand.
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Kartal then held serve with a high topspin forehand, winning her ninth game in a row. Parry managed to hold serve twice and force Kartal to serve for the match. She delivered, with little sign of nerves, as she hit a forehand winner and a blistering ace to set up match point before an unreturnable first serve sealed the win.
The Briton has been vocal about wanting to add to her 14 tattoos to commemorate her run this year, even asking the crowd for suggestions.
A current one reads: 'The show must go on.' And on it goes to a match against Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who defeated the former world No 1 Naomi Osaka.
'I'm going to go out on the court in the next round with nothing to lose at the minute,' said Kartal.
'I'm going to go swinging. The pressure that I'll feel is the pressure I will be putting on myself just wanting to perform as best as I can.'