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LONDON — Zeynep Sonmez became the first Turkish player in the professional era to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament by beating Xinyu Wang 7-5, 7-5 at Wimbledon on Thursday.
She hopes her win ensures it won’t be that long before another Turkish player reaches that stage.
“My mom and the people in my team told me that there were videos where kids were watching me back at home, in tennis clubs on TV,” Sonmez said. “And I hope they get inspired or they feel like, ‘Oh, we can do that too.’”
No Turkish man or woman had made the third round of a major since the Open Era began in 1968, although Cagla Buyukakcay made the second round at three Grand Slams between 2016-17.
One has to go back 75 years to find the last Turkish woman to make it that far, when Bahtiye Musluoglu reached the third round of the French Open in 1950.
The 23-year-old Sonmez was supported by a number of Turkish fans in the crowd and took selfies with some of them after the match.
“I feel that there are a lot of Turkish people (here) and it makes me very happy,” she said.
Sonmez has a WTA title under her belt, at last year’s Merida Open, but had lost in the first round in three previous major tournaments. This is her first Wimbledon appearance.