Sonay Kartal

Sonay Kartal (born 28 October 2001) is a British tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 193 in singles and of No. 559 in doubles. She has been playing on the ITF Circuit since 2019, and has won nine ITF singles titles.

Early life
Kartal was born in Sidcup, London, and lives in Brighton. She is of Turkish descent through her father. She attended Longhill High School.

She began playing tennis at the age of six after watching her older brother play. She currently trains at Pavilion & Avenue Tennis Club in Brighton. Her favourite tennis players are Roger Federer and Kim Clijsters.

2021: Comeback & first ITF Circuit title
Kartal won her first title in November 2021, at the Antalya $15k event, beating Amarissa Toth in the final. This was shortly followed by her second title (and her first on hardcourt) at Monastir $15k, defeating former world No. 40, Ayumi Morita, in the final.

Kartal won the women's title at the UK Pro League with a 6–0, 6–1 win over Freya Christie in the final. She ended 2021 ranked 993.

2022: Ranking rise, WTA & Major& top 200 debuts
She followed up her success in late 2021 early in the 2022 season; winning her third title at the $25k Birmingham event with a three-sets win over compatriot Talia Neilson Gatenby. She won a second consecutive $25k title in Glasgow, beating Czech player Barbora Palicová.

Kartal was part of the BJK Cup team for the qualifying tie in April 2022 when Great Britain faced the Czech team in Prague. However, she was not selected to play any matches.

In May, she won two consecutive singles titles in the third and fourth weeks of the $25k Nottingham events— beating Danielle Lao and Joanna Garland in the finals.

During the grass court season, Kartal received wildcards into the main draws at the Surbiton and Ilkley Trophy, and the Nottingham Open. At Surbiton, she defeated Yuriko Miyazaki in the first round, before falling in the second to top seed Madison Brengle.

She made her WTA Tour debut with a wildcard at Nottingham, where she lost in the first round to Camila Giorgi. At Ilkley, she reached her first semifinal at $100k level— losing in two tiebreakers to compatriot Jodie Burrage.

Kartal was awarded a main draw wildcard at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, where she made her major debut, losing in the first round to lucky loser Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove, 4–6, 6–3, 1–6.

In August, she entered US Open qualifying for the first time, but lost in the first round to Spaniard Marina Bassols Ribera in two tiebreak sets.

Kartal posted a quarterfinal result at the $60k indoor event in Trnava, losing to the second seed Vitalia Diatchenko. The following week at the $60k Trvana 2, she upset third seed Daria Snigur in the first round, but was forced to retire from her second-round match due to injury. However, these performances allowed her to make her top-200 debut. Kartal ended the year ranked No. 198, almost 800 places above her 2021 year-end ranking.

2023-2024: Wimbledon debut and third round
At the 2023 Australian Open, Kartal lost in three sets to 21st seed Elizabeth Mandlik in the first qualifying round. As a wildcard player, Kartal entered the $60k event in Sunderland, falling to former top-30 player Mona Barthel in the quarterfinals.

In June 2023, she qualified for the Nottingham Open.

In June 2024, ranked No. 295, she qualified for the first time at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, earning a spot in the main draw, having received wildcards in the previous two editions. She defeated 29th seed Sorana Cirstea and world number 45 Clara Burel. She became the second British woman in the Open Era to reach the third round at this Major as a qualifier, and first since Karen Cross in 1997. She lost her round three match to second seed Coco Gauff, going down 6-4 6-0 under the roof on Court One.