Sonay Kartal produced the biggest win of her career on Wednesday, defeating world number five Mirra Andreeva at the China Open.
Kartal, who has reached her first WTA 1000 quarter-final, demonstrated her warrior-like spirit throughout the contest, eventually defeating the Russian 7-5, 6-2, 7-5.
Kartal’s victory was labelled a shockwave-inducing result immediately after the match, and it is difficult to look past that conclusion.
The 23-year-old has well and truly announced her presence on the WTA Tour, and she represents one of the most promising hopes British tennis has to offer.
However, the result could have been different had Kartal not decided to make a key change.
Sonay Kartal says she ‘had no choice’ but to be more aggressive against Mirra Andreeva
Following the momentous result, Kartal spoke to Sky Sports about her plan heading into the clash against Andreeva.
Kartal said: “I think I got it down to a tee, to be honest with you. I watched a lot of her matches and was aware of what she was going to try and do and how she was going to attack my game style.
“I just tried to be unpredictable and just in big moments play brave tennis. It was definitely a physical match, I think we were both feeling it a bit, but proud of how I stuck in there.
“The last couple of years I have been on the ITF circuit, so I have been thrown into it pretty fast, and I realised the game style I was playing to be at this level was not good enough.
“I have been working on being more aggressive in the bigger moments and I think it’s maybe not something I have been willing to do so much in recent matches.
“But I knew in this match I had no choice, so I was just trying to accept that maybe this match might not go my way but I am going to play the way I need to play to get the wins later on.
“I am happy it worked out. I was definitely playing braver tennis, which is something I need to do more of.”
Sonay Kartal’s superb serving performance
If Sonay Kartal can continue to serve as well as she did against Mirra Andreeva, she undoubtedly has a chance at winning the China Open.
As per Sofascore, the British star made 73 per cent of her first serves, winning 65 per cent of those points.
Remarkably, Kartal also won 61 per cent of her second serve points.
The 23-year-old also saved four of six break-points, while firing down two aces.
In the next round Kartal faces Czech star Linda Noskova, before a potential semi-final match against Jessica Pegula or Emma Navarro, who she recently lost to at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
