In the Jasmin Open final in Tunisia, British number four Sonay Kartal overcame Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia by battling her nerves to win her first WTA championship. After winning the match 6-3, 7-5, the 22-year-old athlete will make his maiden appearance in the world’s top 100.
With her success, she declared: “I’ve played some of my best tennis this week, had some of my best wins… I feel like each match I’ve grown and grown. I tried so hard to put the occasion and the score behind me.”
In a social media post, Kartal expressed: “WHATTT!!! WTA 250 title… Thank you for all the support, it’s been one incredible week!”
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Highlights of the match
Kartal lost three straight service games with no sign of success in sight, yet she eventually settled in to serve it out after controlling her higher-ranked opponent in the middle of the match.
Both women athletes were participating in their first-ever final at this level. Sramkova, ranked 136th in the world, failed for her 39th unintentional mistake of the match, giving the British player her historic triumph on the first of her two championship points.
Kartal prevailed in the last three games of the first set and took a 4-1 lead in the second set until a rising Sramkova put a lot of pressure on her serve. However, Kartal endured the pressure and won the second set in 71 minutes, breaking her opponent four times in total. In less than two hours, she sealed her victory.
The athlete added: “I started the year with the goal of being top 150, so now I have passed that…I’m just trying to end the year in the top 100.”
Source: BBC