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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 No 3 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.
Then, in the second game, both players thought a Bouzas Maneiro serve had been called out, only to eventually realise that the call had come from a neighbouring court.
With line calls now automated and no line judges on the court, it can be difficult for players to determine where the call has come from.
“They all sound the same,” said Kartal. “I was like, ‘God’. I think on ours the sound of his voice was male, so I was just listening out for the male voice instead of the female voice.”
Confusion over line calls was the least of the 23-year-old’s problems, though, with Bouzas Maneiro, who defeated Katie Boulter at the US Open last summer, crunching winners seemingly at will.
Kartal, ranked 33 places below her opponent at 87 in the world, finally ended a nine-game losing run by holding serve in the fourth game of the second set, and from there the momentum began to turn.
There were a few more errors from the Bouzas Maneiro racket and Kartal broke serve twice in a row, saving a match point at 4-5 thanks to a wayward volley from her opponent.
Had she capitalised on a 4-2 lead in the tie-break, things might have turned out differently, but Bouzas Maneiro won five of the last six points.
Kartal is still very inexperienced at this level, having risen rapidly up the rankings during the second half of last season, winning a first WTA Tour title in Tunisia and breaking into the top 100.
Her ranking will allow her to play some big tour events for the first time, and she said: “I’ll bounce back from this. I’ve got plenty more chances and good matches that are coming up pretty soon.”
Kartal was the only British player in action on the opening day, with Jack Draper, Jacob Fearnley and Jodie Burrage all due to begin their campaigns on Monday.
PA
