Final Brit falls in women’s draw as Sonny Kartal’s Wimbledon run ends

A Centre Court debut for the British No. 3 and the chance to reach a Wimbledon quarter-final proved to be a step too far for Sonay Kartal, who exceeded all expectations by progressing to the round of 16 stage and consequently becoming the last remaining female British player out of the 10 that entered the main draw. While Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter were the main focus of British attention at this year’s tournament — particularly Raducanu, who once again made headlines, this time for announcing a mixed doubles partnership with reigning and two-time Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz for the upcoming US Open, sparking rumours and widespread media speculation about a possible romance between the two Grand Slam winners —few would have predicted such an impressive showing from the 23-year-old.

Despite the best efforts of Kartal, she wasn’t able to get a good enough look at any more return games

Following on from successes against Jelena Ostapenko, Viktoriya Tomova, and Diana Parry in the previous rounds, Kartal faced up against the experienced Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in a match that started evenly before an extremely controversial, electronically-aided line call (or lack of one) went the way of the home favourite. With the score tied at 4-4 in the opening set and Pavlyuchenkova serving with a game point, Kartal fired a backhand seemingly long of the baseline, to which the Russian stopped; however, the newly introduced electronic line system didn’t go off to call the ball out. Umpire Nico Helwerth was therefore forced to intervene and announced that the system was momentarily down, meaning the point had to be replayed. Kartal went on to break and had the chance to serve for the first set, much to the anger of her opponent, who exploded at the umpire, with Matt Verri writing that she claimed that “because she (Kartal) is local, they can say whatever”.

Pavlyuchenkova, however, regained her composure and broke back before two more holds of serve between the pair brought up a tiebreak to decide who would take the advantage and claim the first set. And it was the aggrieved Russian who took it 7-3 to dampen the mood inside Centre Court.

Kartal certainly proved to be the surprise package on the women’s side, with compatriots Boulter and Raducanu exiting earlier

A break of serve apiece in the early exchanges of set number two suggested an equally tight following act, but it was the revitalised Pavlyuchenkova who then took a giant step towards the quarter final, breaking the Brit at 2-2 to take control of proceedings. Despite the best efforts of Kartal, and with the crowd firmly behind her, she wasn’t able to get a good enough look at any more return games, resulting in a 7-6, 6-4 straight sets defeat to the 2021 French Open finalist.

In a tournament that saw a record number of Brits make the main draw across men and women, Kartal certainly proved to be the surprise package on the women’s side, with compatriots Boulter and Raducanu exiting earlier; the former to Argentinian Solana Sierra in the second round, and the latter to World Number One Aryna Sabalenka in round three. There were also Wimbledon appearances for a trio of British teenagers, Hannah Klugman (16), Mika Stojsavljevic (16), and Mimi Xu (17), indicating a bright future for British women’s tennis.