British qualifier Sonay Kartal sets up Coco Gauff tie with £143,000 reward for dream Wimbledon run
Sonay Kartal is through to the third round of Wimbledon
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British qualifier Sonay Kartal has booked a blockbuster third-round tie with Coco Gauff at Wimbledon after a stunning win over Clara Burel.
Kartal made her main draw debut at a major earlier this week with a difficult draw against No 29 seed Sorana Cirstea.
But the British starlet pulled off a huge upset, bageling her opponent in the deciding set to clinch her first-ever win in the main draw of a major.
France's Burel was up next for Kartal, who headed into the tournament in fine form having reached a career-high ranking of 42nd in the world.
The 23-year-old made a name for herself at this year's Australian Open when she upset the odds against Jessica Pegula.
But Kartal twice saved break points in the first set before getting the break in the sixth game before confidently serving out for the set.
The 22-year-old hit just nine unforced errors and won 75 per cent of points on her first serve.
It was a similar story in the second set as Kartal quickly took a 3-0 lead to move on the verge of another upset.
She broke her opponent twice to put herself in full control of the second set, but Burel began to fight back as Kartal started to show signs of nerves.
Burel pulled one back in the fourth game, but Kartal had a great opportunity to regain her double-break advantage later in the set.
She had four break-point opportunities in the seventh game, but the French athlete managed to hold.
And the world No 45 brought the match back on level terms in the very next game as she broke Kartal before breaking once again to force a deciding set.
Coco Gauff will face Sonay Kartal next
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All the momentum was with Burel heading into the third set, but Kartal managed to recompose herself to come through the decider.
The British star got the job done in two hours and 15 minutes to set up a huge clash with Gauff.
In beating Burel, Kartal will cimb to a new career-high ranking of 188th in the world.
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Sonay Kartal had never won a match in a main draw of a Grand Slam before this week
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She'll also pocket the £143,000 prize money that comes with winning in the second round to go along with the £40,000 she won for getting through the qualifiers.
Gauff is one of the strong favourites to win Wimbledon this year and has dropped just six games across her two opening matches.
If Kartal pulls off an unlikely win then she could climb all the way up to 150th in the world.
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