Zeynep Sonmez becomes first Turkish player to reach third round of a Grand Slam in Open Era

Zeynep Sonmez has made history, becoming the first Turkish player in the Open Era to reach the third round of a Grand Slam.

She achieved the feat at Wimbledon on Thursday with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over China’s Wang Xinyu in the second round of the grass-court major, battling back from 4-1 down to win the first set and then serving to stay in the second set at 4-5 before breaking for 6-5 and serving it out in the next game.

She had beaten Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian in the first round, 7-6 (3), 6-3, for her first career win in the main draw of a major.

Wang had recently reached the final at one of the biggest warm-up events to Wimbledon, in Berlin, and—at No. 32—was one of the first few players out of the seeds. She had beaten the No. 15 seed, Karolina Muchova, in the first round.

Sonmez is playing in the main draw of Wimbledon for the first time.

This isn’t the first time Sonmez has made headlines for Turkey.

The 23-year-old made a surprise run to the first WTA title of her career last November, in Merida, Mexico. With that, she became just the second Turkish player ever to win a WTA title, after Cagla Buyukakcay, who won on home soil in Istanbul in 2016.

Sonmez subsequently broke into the Top 100 for the first time, becoming the second Turkish player ever to reach the Top 100 on the WTA rankings, after, again, Buyukakcay.

Buyukakcay has reached the second round at Grand Slams three times, at Roland Garros and the US Open in 2016, then Roland Garros again in 2017.

Awaiting Sonmez in the third round of Wimbledon on Saturday will be the winner of No. 18 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and the Netherlands’ Suzan Lamens.