Great Britain’s Sonay Kartal has won the Jasmin Open in Tunisia to claim her first title on the WTA Tour following a captivating battle with Rebecca Sramkova.
Kartal, a former junior rival of Emma Raducanu, emerged from qualifying in Monastir and has played superbly throughout the week, culminating in a maiden title as she defeated Sramkova in straight sets in the final on Sunday.
The 22-year-old from Brighton, who lost to American superstar Coco Gauff in the third round at Wimbledon earlier this year, now joins Katie Boulter as a British WTA Tour winner this season, by taking victory 6-3 7-5 following what became a hard-fought battle.
The win over the Slovakian, who was also playing in her first WTA Tour final, means Kartal will achieve a new career-high ranking and break into the top 100 of the women’s singles rankings for the first time.
Kartal was positive throughout the first set and broke her opponent three times, as well as smashing in three aces, as the Brit perhaps felt the benefits of an early finish to her semi-final – when Germany’s Eva Lys retired through illness after less than half an hour – to wrap up the opener in 47 minutes by playing assertive tennis and attacking her opponent’s serve.
A strong finish to the first set and a strong start to the second saw Kartal race into a 4-1 lead before Sramkova broke back and made life difficult for the British No 4-ranked women’s player.
An attritional eighth game, lasting over 10 minutes, in the second set challenged the mettle of both players, as Kartal saved various break points and spurned chances to win the game of her own before Sramkova converted her fourth opportunity to break and level the set at 4-4.
Another couple of breaks followed before, with both players struggling to hold serve, Kartal took advantage of sluggish serving from a tiring Sramkova to break for a fourth time in the set give herself a second chance to serve for the match.
Importantly, she won her opening point on serve, and produced a magnificent winner to set up championship point. Kartal only needed one of those, and secured victory after a marathon second set lasting one hour and 10 minutes.
More to follow…
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