{"id":427344,"date":"2026-01-21T08:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/427344\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T08:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:35:10","slug":"zeynep-sonmez-thrills-turkish-fans-with-latest-australian-open-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/427344\/","title":{"rendered":"Zeynep S\u00f6nmez thrills Turkish fans with latest Australian Open win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Booking a berth in the Australian Open third round is only one part of Zeynep S\u00f6nmez’s remarkable story at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

The other part is the enormous \u2014 and vocal \u2014 support she is receiving from Victoria’s Turkish diaspora.<\/p>\n

S\u00f6nmez’s devoted supporters crammed into the stands at the compact court seven today to see their idol defeat Hungarian Anna Bond\u00e1r 6-2, 6-4 in the second round.<\/p>\n

In scenes almost rivalling Philippines star Alexandra Eala’s appearance on the outside courts<\/a>, Turkish national flags were seen at every vantage point.<\/p>\n

\"Supporters<\/p>\n

The Turkish flag was prominent in the stands on court seven. (AP: Dar Yasin)<\/p>\n

The noise created by the passionate crowd left S\u00f6nmez struggling to concentrate early in the match.<\/p>\n

“At first, I couldn’t even hear my own thoughts,” said S\u00f6nmez, who qualified for the main draw in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

“It was very, very loud. Then I said, ‘You know, Zeynep, just focus, [it’s] just you and the ball, and play your game and just focus on the court.’<\/p>\n

“I know that they were there to support me, and I really appreciate it. They did help me a lot.<\/p>\n

“Like, especially in the important points, I always felt the support.”<\/p>\n

S\u00f6nmez beamed; she had “never experienced something like this” in reference to the crowd’s support.<\/p>\n

“I felt like I was at home. Basically, I was feeling the energy. It was really unreal,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ranked 112 on the WTA standings, S\u00f6nmez created history by fighting back from 3-0 down in the third set to defeat number 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round.<\/p>\n

\"Zeynep<\/p>\n

Zeynep S\u00f6nmez has earned a slice of history at the Australian Open. (AP: Dar Yasin)<\/p>\n

She became the first Turkish woman to win a match at the tournament in the Open era.<\/p>\n

S\u00f6nmez, who was ranked as high as 69 last October, also endeared herself to non-partisan spectators when she helped a ball kid, who appeared to faint on the court during the match against Alexandrova.<\/p>\n

\"Zeynep<\/p>\n

Zeynep S\u00f6nmez (right) showed concern for an unwell ball kid during her first-round match. (AP: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)<\/p>\n

T\u00fcrkiye has only enjoyed a modest record in professional tennis, which is why S\u00f6nmez knows her exploits are being celebrated back home.<\/p>\n

“I know they’re supporting me,” the 23-year-old said.<\/p>\n

“I know they’re watching me. It was, like, 3am \u2026 and I know that there were many people who just woke up to watch me.”<\/p>\n

S\u00f6nmez has the chance to achieve her best result at a major when she meets Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva in the third round.<\/p>\n

She reached the round of 32 at Wimbledon last year in her fourth appearance at a grand slam tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Booking a berth in the Australian Open third round is only one part of Zeynep S\u00f6nmez’s remarkable story…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,6571,171805,85,747,184785,224310,13195,63949],"class_list":["post-427344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-open","tag-second-round","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-third-round","tag-turkish-supporters","tag-turkiye","tag-zeynep-sonmez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}