Sonay Kartal was disappointed with her performance on her Australian Open debut as she fell in the opening round to Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. The British number three won only one of the first 10 games – following a long rain delay – but mounted a comeback and was close to forcing a deciding set before losing out 6-1 7-6 (5).
“I’m obviously disappointed with the result, pretty disappointed with the performance as well,” said Kartal, who missed out on a second-round date with defending champion Aryna Sabalenka. “I was definitely far from what I expected myself to play and my expectations. But credit to her, she came out guns blazing in that first set. I wasn’t even getting a touch on a lot of her forehands.
“It was tricky. She, in some aspects, plays very similar to me. Spinny forehand, gets good whip off the ball, likes to dictate with the forehand as well. So it was tough, kind of playing someone like myself. “You don’t really come across it that much.
“I had chances in the second set, just a couple of points here and there. And I think that, if I’d have got one or two extra points, I think I could have easily gone into a third set.”. After a more than three-hour wait, the players then faced a further delay while officials with towels tried to stop water coming up through small holes on the court.
