Wimbledon 2025: Sonay Kartal knocks out former Grand Slam champion Jelena Ostapenko in first round
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British No.3 Sonay Kartal began her Wimbledon campaign with a statement win over 20th seed and former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the first round.
Kartal held off the threat of an Ostapenko comeback with a dominant final set to come through 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 in an hour and 58 minutes.
The 23-year-old Brit managed to withstand the powerful hitting from former world No.5 Ostapenko and managed to capitalise on her restricted movement to seal a second top 25 win of the summer so far.
Kartal will be hoping to improve on her third round appearance here last year as she gets set to face Viktoriya Tomova after former Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur was forced to retire.
“That was by far one of the toughest matches I’ve played. I struggle against the big hitters so it’s great to be able to get that win after she beat me easily last week.
“This year I’m playing better, I’m improving each week – I want to see how far I can go this week.”
This time last year, Kartal came in as the world No.298 and 12 months later, she’s sitting just outside the top 50 and beating the best players on the biggest stages – something she credits to decisions she’s made with her schedule off the back of last year’s third round run.
“After the year I had last year, I’ve made a conscious effort to play the bigger matches and put myself under pressure on the court,” she added. “I knew that maybe I wouldn’t get the results straight away but that eventually it would pay off and that’s what happened today.
“The tournament I had last year was probably the best I’ve ever had and my most favourite. I left here last year feeling a much more confident player on and off the court. I knew my level was there, but I had to force it out of myself.”
Kartal was made to work for the opening set having found herself 4-1 down right out of the gate. The British No.3 lost to Ostapenko in Eastbourne last week and was determined to get her revenge at the All England Club.
Having missed break points in the previous game, Kartal connected on a strong return right at the feet of the Latvian to finally get back on serve.
There was more work to do though as Kartal was made to save three set points before levelling at 5-5 and eventually clinching back-to-back breaks.
Kartal closed out the set with a cool forehand winner past a stationary Ostapenko and it looked like the injury woes that she’d faced at Eastbourne might have returned to haunt her.
However, the former Roland Garros champion was spurred back into life in the second set, swinging freely and going for big winners early in each point.
For a while, it worked - Ostapenko hit 15 winners in the second set to take the double break and eventually see out the set, but the run could only last so long.
The Latvian wasn’t able to get up to the short balls and Kartal used that to her advantage, regularly mixing it up with drop shots. The Brit got the opening break in the third after the ball trickled over the net cord – stopping Ostapenko in her tracks and turning the match on its head.
Kartal took the next five games with Ostapenko hitting 12 unforced errors, and at the second time of asking, the Briton served out the win and punched her ticket into round two.
She is the first Briton through to the second round with plenty more left to play later today - follow results and updates.
