LONDON (AP) Zeynep Sonmez grew to become the primary Turkish participant within the skilled period to achieve the third spherical of a Grand Slam match by beating Xinyu Wang 7-5, 7-5 at Wimbledon on Thursday.

She hopes her win ensures it received’t be that lengthy earlier than one other Turkish participant reaches that stage.

My mother and the individuals in my workforce advised me that there have been movies the place children had been watching me again at house, in tennis golf equipment on TV, Sonmez mentioned. And I hope they get impressed or they really feel like, Oh, we will do this too.

No Turkish man or lady had made the third spherical of a serious because the Open Period started in 1968, though Cagla Buyukakcay made the second spherical at three Grand Slams between 2016-17.

One has to return 75 years to search out the final Turkish lady to make it that far, when Bahtiye Musluoglu reached the third spherical of the French Open in 1950.

The 23-year-old Sonmez was supported by quite a few Turkish followers within the crowd and took selfies with a few of them after the match.

I really feel that there are quite a lot of Turkish individuals (right here) and it makes me very glad, she mentioned.

Sonmez has a WTA title underneath her belt, ultimately yr’s Merida Open, however had misplaced within the first spherical in three earlier main tournaments. That is her first Wimbledon look.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis