FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 1, 2024 Britain's Sonay Kartal in action during her first round match against Romania's Sorana Cirstea REUTERS/Paul Childs/File Photo
British qualifier Sonay Kartal captured her first WTA Tour title on Sunday, defeating Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia 6-3, 7-5 at the Jasmin Open Tunisia in Monastir, Tunisia.
It was the first WTA singles final for both Kartal, ranked No. 151 in the world, and Sramkova, No. 136.
Each player converted 50 percent of her break-point opportunities, with Kartal going 7 of 14 and Sramkova 5 of 10. Sramkova committed 39 unforced errors to 18 for Kartal. The match lasted a minute under two hours.
Kartal, 22, had never advanced past the quarterfinals at the tour level until this week. She did not drop a set after losing the first set in the main draw to fifth-seeded Jaqueline Cristian.
Kartal reached the third round at Wimbledon, losing to Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-0.
Guadalajara Open Akron
Poland's Magdalena Frech, the No. 5 seed, had little trouble getting past qualifier Olivia Gadecki of Australia, coming away with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory in the final in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Frech won 30 of 44 first-serve points and converted 3 of 5 break points en route to her first career singles title on the WTA Tour. She trailed 5-4 in the first-set tiebreaker before winning three points in a row to head into the second set on a high note.
Gadecki was in unfamiliar territory, as she was playing in her first career final. The 22-year-old finished with two aces against four double faults.
--Field Level Media
