Sonay Kartal storms into Wimbledon third round with statement 67-minute win

British No. 3 Sonay Kartal is back into the third round of Wimbledon after sealing a statement 6-2 6-2 victory over Viktoriya Tomova on her favourite court. Twelve months ago, ranked just inside the world's top 300, Kartal stormed into round three as a qualifier. She's now defended her 130 ranking points and will be keen to go even further.

Kartal stunned 20th seed Jelena Ostapenko in three sets in her opening round. But she barely broke a sweat against world No. 111 Tomova, needing an hour and seven minutes to get the job done.

From 2-2 in the second set, Kartal went on an incredible run, winning eight games in a row to lead 6-2 4-0. The Brighton-based star smacked down 10 winners in the first set and dropped four points on her first serve.

Tomova - who advanced to the second round when Ons Jabeur retired on Monday - finally ended her run and broke to love to get on the board. The Bulgarian held to close the gap at 2-4, but it was the last game she won.

Kartal steadied the ship, putting herself a game away from the third round. And she reeled off three winners to give herself three match points, breaking to love to seal victory in front of fellow British players Jodie Burrage and Mimi Xu.

Afterwards, the world No. 51 told the Court 3 crowd: "I knew that match was going to be tough, I know she's an incredible competitor and I knew I was going to have to go out and win that match.

"I think in the warm-up this morning, I felt good, on court today I felt good. I was seeing it and hitting it really clean. I think I just had one of those days where it was a very good day in the office!"

Last year, Kartal reached the third round as a qualifier ranked at No. 298 before her run was ended by Coco Gauff. Since then, she's won her maiden WTA Tour title, gone deep in Indian Wells, and cracked the world's top 50.

And she wanted to make sure that her fairytale run in 2024 wasn't a fluke.

"I wanted to back up the run I had last year, I didn't want people to think that it was just one, two good weeks out of the year," Kartal explained.

"This tournament, I really wanted to show I'm at this level now, I can consistently play. After the match against Jelena, I had so much confidence. I feel like with each match on grass and out here, I'm growing with confidence.

"On the court, I'm pretty tunnel-visioned. I don't like to give too much away, just like to keep calm and try and see out the match. The last 12 months, I've obviously kind of thrown myself onto the scene, top 50 so playing all the bigger matches.

"I think this year, I made a conscious effort, I only wanted to play the bigger matches, just get used to playing the best players on tour, day-in, day-out. Each match, I'm growing with confidence, I'm playing better. I feel like I'm playing with freedom and much more confidence in my game."

Kartal will now face either 12th seed Diana Shnaider or qualifier Diane Parry for a spot in week two.

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