Sonay Kartal gets Britain off to a flyer at Wimbledon with win over Ostapenko

This time last year, Sonay Kartal was ranked No 298, batting to make it as a professional. On Monday, after a whirlwind 12 months, the 23-year-old made it a perfect start for British players at Wimbledon as she upended the former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.

Kartal, who cracked the top 50 for the first time earlier this month, saved three set points as she recovered from 5-2 down to win the first set and though No 20 seed Ostapenko bounced back to level, Kartal ripped through the third for a well-earned victory.

“That was one of the toughest matches I have played,” Kartal said. “I struggle against the big hitters, she beat me easily last week (in Eastbourne).”

A total of 23 British players are in action in the singles, the most since 1984, and on what was set to be the hottest ever opening day at Wimbledon, Kartal’s greater fitness and in the end, consistency, got her over the line. Kartal hit 29 winners to just 15 unforced errors while Ostapenko, by contrast, hit 37 winners but made 32 unforced errors as the Briton claimed her third win over a top 20 player.

It was here 12 months ago that Kartal made her breakthrough on the big stage, qualifying and then making the third round. Her win over Ostapenko will take her back close to her career-high ranking of 49, which she achieved just a week ago.

Having beaten Kartal in Eastbourne, Ostapenko was full of confidence at the start, racing to a 3-0 and 5-2 lead on Court No 3. A quarter-finalist here last year, she had three set points at 5-3 but couldn’t take them and Kartal ran through the last five games to take the set.

Ostapenko hit back in the second to level but Kartal broke in the opening game of the decider and though she stumbled when serving for victory at 5-0, she made no mistake second time round as she moved through to a clash with Viktoriya Tomova, who advanced when Ons Jabeur withdrew early in the second set of their first-round match due to injury.

A few minutes later, fellow British player and world No 733 Oliver Tarvet added to the early British success, recording a straight-sets victory over Leandro Riedi.

The lowest-ranked man at Wimbledon, Tarvet triumphed 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and will now play the winner of the match between men’s champion Carlos Alcaraz and Fabio Fognini.

Wild card Arthur Fery matched Kartal, defeating the men’s 20th seed, Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the biggest victory of his career. The 22-year-old’s only top-100 win before this came against then 99th ranked David Goffin two years ago.

Fery, whose French father, Loic, owns Lorient football club, was not in the initial batch of wild cards named by the All England Club having seen his ranking drop outside the top 400 because of injury but a strong week at the second-tier Challenger event in Nottingham earlier this month earned him a pass.

British wild card Oliver Crawford clinched the opening set on his SW19 debut before suffering a 6-7 (2) 6-3 6-4 6-4 defeat to Italian world No 73 Mattia Bellucci and there was disappointment, too, for Jacob Fearnley who lost in straight sets to the rising teenage Brazilian João Fonseca despite being up in the third set tiebreak.

After winning 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (5), Fonseca said courtside: “I’m sorry for winning against a British guy but thanks for the support and respecting the tennis today. Jacob is a great friend and player and I look forward to my next meeting with him.”