Sonay Kartal will take a belief that she can mix it with the best at grand slams away from a standout Wimbledon run.
The 23-year-old reached the fourth round in just her sixth appearance in the main draw at one of the sport’s major events but lost out to Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova under the roof on Centre Court.
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It was a close affair, with Pavlyuchenkova putting aside controversy over a line call after a failure of the new electronic system to edge a 7-6 (3) 6-4 victory and reach the last eight at Wimbledon for the first time in nine years.
Kartal said: “I’m obviously pretty devastated to not get the win. People were saying to me that the draw had really opened up, but I think she played like a seed today.
“She was seeing the ball so well, taking it super early right from the very first point. She played two games which [were] almost unplayable for me. I think I did well to keep it as tight as I did. A few mistakes at not ideal times. I think that was the only difference today.
“I’m proud of the week that I’ve had, for sure. I’ve proved to myself that I can go deep into slams, I can beat some of the best players on tour. I’m going to go away with a lot of motivation.”
Kartal, who will overtake Emma Raducanu to become British No 2, could not have had a more dramatic entrance for her first time on Centre Court, with a huge clap of thunder reverberating around the arena as she strode out.
“I think there was thunder when I walked on and thunder when I came off,” said Kartal. “That’s one pretty cool entrance. I loved it.
“Walking out on to Centre, you just get goosebumps. You’ve got the roof closed, it’s even louder. It was crazy. One very good experience I’m glad that I’ll have on camera to watch every now and again. It was a dream come true being able to play on Centre today.”
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Kartal had started slowly in all her matches, and it was the same here, with Pavlyuchenkova moving into a 2-0 lead – 18 years after her SW19 debut.
But the British player, who had her right knee heavily bandaged, had showed in beating Jelena Ostapenko in round one that she could overcome the power hitters, worked her way into the contest. It was finely balanced when the line-calling system took centre stage.
On game point serving at 4-4, Pavlyuchenkova was convinced a Kartal shot had landed long but the technology was not working at the time – which Wimbledon organisers later attributed to human error – and the point was replayed.
Pavlyuchenkova went on to lose the game, leaving Kartal serving for the opening set, and she furiously told umpire Nico Helwerth at the change of ends: “Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me.”
Kartal had one chance to clinch the set but could not take it, and ultimately Pavlyuchenkova’s ability to hit winners – 36 in total – made the difference.
