Sonay Kartal has put together one heck of a run to the fourth round at Indian Wells.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After saving a match point to upset Emma Navarro in the second round, Kartal worked her magic again Monday night, rallying from a set down to upend 2025 semifinalist Madison Keys 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in just under two hours. The win sends her into the Round of 16 for the second straight year.<\/p>\n
Indian Wells:\u00a0Scores<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Draws<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Order of play<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAs a player, you have favorite tournaments throughout the year,\u201d Kartal said in her on-court interview. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve said in all these interviews that this is an event that I really look forward to coming back to. There are a lot of similarities to being at home with the conditions, and I think these courts really suit my game and enhance my game.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re happy in the environment, that can translate onto the match court.\u201d<\/p>\n With the result, Kartal became the first British woman to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells twice. It also marked the fifth Top 20 win of her WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz career.<\/p>\n It came on a night when Keys looked untouchable early, racing through the opening set. She broke first for 2-1, and after Kartal leveled at 2-2, reeled off four straight games to take the set. The American fired 25 winners to just 13 unforced errors in that frame, using not only her forehand but also a mix of drop shots, lobs and sharp net play that kept Kartal off balance.<\/p>\n And then the match flipped.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing the underdog, you come out here and you kind of have nothing to lose,\u201d Kartal said. \u201cI wanted to do what I did in the previous matches and that was to be aggressive and try to keep up with her level.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s an incredible player, and I knew there were going to be times where she was going to be unbeatable. I just tried to weather the storm.\u201d<\/p>\n Mission accomplished. Kartal countered Keys\u2019 pace with two key adjustments, the biggest coming on serve. After winning just 5 of 15 points second-serve points in the first set, she amped up the aggression in the second.\u00a0<\/p>\n The payoff was an 86%-win rate on second-serve points and a string of smooth service holds. After facing six break points in the opener, she faced none in the second. On return, she broke Keys twice, the second time on a double fault that sent the match to a decider.<\/p>\n Kartal\u2019s rally tolerance sharpened in the second set as well, forcing Keys to be the one to make mistakes. The Brit hit only two winners in the set, but with just one unforced error, she controlled the rallies and, as a result, the scoreboard.<\/p>\n While the first two sets were more decisive, the decider proved to be a back-and-forth affair. Despite some long service games for Keys, the two traded holds through the first seven games. Kartal\u2019s persistence finally paid off when a brilliant backhand pass — one of many she produced throughout the night — set up her third break point, and a cruel net cord left Keys stranded to give Kartal the chance to serve for the match.<\/p>\n Apparently the tennis gods weren\u2019t done. On the next point, another net cord fell Kartal\u2019s way. She capitalized on the good fortune, holding her nerve and her serve with veteran calm before one final Keys forehand drifted wide to send her into the fourth round.<\/p>\n Kartal will face either Elena Rybakina or Marta Kostyuk in the Round of 16. She has yet to face either player in her career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sonay Kartal has put together one heck of a run to the fourth round at Indian Wells.\u00a0 After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,1602,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-467259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-text","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}