Sonay Kartal stuns 29th seed Sorana Cirstea for her first Wimbledon win
Sonay Kartal fought from a set down to Sorana Cirstea to reach the second round of Wimbledon (Jordan Pettitt/PA) (PA Wire)
Sonay Kartal made it a hat-trick of British female winners on day one of Wimbledon with a career-best victory over 29th seed Sorana Cirstea.
Kartal had dropped to 298 in the world after a difficult 12 months due to health problems and had to qualify for this year’s Championships.
A string of excellent displays at Roehampton last week booked Kartal’s place in the main draw and the British number nine backed it up with a superb 3-6 6-2 6-0 win over Cirstea on Monday to join Emma Raducanu and Lily Miyazaki in round two.
On her third consecutive appearance at the All England Club, Kartal quickly found herself a break down on Court 15 against experienced Romanian Cirstea.
Kartal saved the first two set points, but Cirstea claimed the opener at the third time of asking in 38 minutes without facing a break point.
It was a different story in the second, with Kartal finally able to fashion opportunities on Cirstea’s serve in a decisive sixth game which went the way of the Briton.
A forehand winner down the line by Kartal forced a decider, which started with a marathon 14-minute game.
Kartal eventually held and it wore down the resistance of world number 31 Cirstea, who was bageled after being broken three times in the final set.
Victory was sealed by Kartal with a superb return winner via her explosive forehand to earn the 22-year-old a maiden Wimbledon triumph, which sets up a second-round tie with Clara Burel on Wednesday and earns her a £93,000 payday.