Sonay Kartal: The story behind Great Britain’s 22-year-old maiden WTA Tour title winner

Sonay Kartal catapulted into the top 100 rankings after earning her maiden WTA title on Sunday, but who is Great Britain’s rising star?

Kartal is often referred to as Emma Raducanu’s childhood rival. In 2014, the pair were pictured playing against each other at a junior tennis competition at the West Hants tennis club in Bournemouth.

A decade later, Kartal has now become the fourth British woman in the WTA top 100 rankings joining Raducanu, Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart.

She is also the 21st British woman to break into the WTA top 100 since 1975 and the ninth in the last 10 years.

Kartal powered past Rebecca Sramkova in the Jasmin Open final 6-3 7-5 to win in Tunisia on Sunday and only dropped one set on her way to victory.

Following her win, she said: “Right now it’s unbelievable. I tried so hard to put the occasion and the score behind me and try to treat it just like any other match.

“It’s been such a good week, I’ve played some of my best tennis and it feels like in every match I’ve got better.”

While this may be the 22-year-old’s first WTA title, she has been on the circuit for a while.

In August 2024, Kartal earned back-to-back ITF tournament defeating fifth seed Haruka Kaji from Japan 6-3 6-3.

She also qualified for the first time at Wimbledon this year earning a spot in the main draw after having received wildcards in the previous two editions.

She became the second British woman in the Open era to reach the third round at Wimbledon as a qualifier and the first since Karen Cross in 1997 after she beat 29th seed Sorana Cirstea and world No 45 Clara Burel.

However, Kartal fell in straight sets to second seed Coco Gauff in her third round match.

In 2022, she received her first call up from former British number one Anne Keothavong to join the Billie Jean King Cup team alongside Raducanu, Dart and Katie Swan and, although she was not selected to play any matches, Kartal said it was her dream to be selected.

She made her majors debut at Wimbledon in 2022 after being awarded a main draw wildcard but lost in the first round to lucky loser Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove.

In the same year, she also entered US Open qualifying for the first time but fell in the first round to Spaniard Marina Bassols Ribera.

However, following successful performances in Slovakia, Kartal was able to break into the top 200. She finished 2022 ranked at No 198 which was almost 800 places above her 2021 year ranking of 998.

Keothavong: She deserves this success

Anne Keothavong believes Kartal is playing with more confidence and hopes she will use her success from the Jasmin Open as a springboard to enter into bigger events.

“She’s someone who worked so hard and deserves this success,” Keothavong said speaking on Sky Sports News.

“It came as a huge surprise, because obviously she had to come through two rounds of qualifying. I spoke to her last night after her victory and I think she was still in a state of shock.

“She couldn’t quite believe what she had achieved. She played some fantastic tennis to win her first WTA title. That’s huge and now she’s got her ranking inside the world’s top 100.

“I think for any player that’s the major milestone. If you can break into the world’s top 100 you’re into Grand Slam, you’re there on merit, you don’t have to go through the rounds of qualifying and you can enter bigger events.

“Hopefully she’ll use this as a springboard because at Wimbledon her ranking was only just inside the world’s top 300 and she came through three rounds of qualifying to reach the third round.

“She’s been able to continue to build and build and she’s had her fair share of injuries and health issues over the past couple of years so for her to go out there and do what she did, the conditions in Tunisia suited her, but she’s playing with a huge amount of confidence, and she’s continuing to improve.”

What’s next for Kartal?

Following her victory in Tunisia, Kartal said her goal at the start of the year was to be in the top 150 and she has now ticked that off.

The 22-year-old now hopes to end the year remaining in the top 100 and has her sights set down under.

“I want to put myself in the best position for Australia,” Kartal said.

The Australian Open 2025 will start next year on Sunday January 12 and runs for two weeks.

What else is coming up on Sky Sports Tennis in September?

• Korea Open – WTA 500 (16 to 22 September – with Emma Raducanu in action)
• Thailand Open – WTA 250 (16 to 22 September)
• Chengdu Open – ATP 250 (17 to 24 September)
• Hangzhou Open – ATP 250 (18 to 24 September)
• Japan Open – ATP 500 (25 September to 1 October)
• China Open – ATP 500 (26 September to 2 October)
• China Open – WTA 1000 (25 September to 6 October)

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