British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

PaulM · Tennis legend

Week 5 - WTA500 - Abu Dhabi Hard

Var · Futures level

PaulM wrote:
Struggling with this matchup I think. Quite surprised by this.

Just dropped her service game, second set. Somethings up.

Jan · Hall of fame

Var wrote:
Jan wrote:
Eek, Sonay has lost the first set 0-6
Missed it, what happened?

Sorry, not watching, just saw the score. Hopefully Sonay will figure it out!

christ · Challenger qualifying

Var wrote:
Jan wrote:
Eek, Sonay has lost the first set 0-6
Missed it, what happened?

"One-upping" Ms Raducanu.

To be honest, watching the game, it just appears that the opponent is the better tennis player. She is mixing her tennis up, so Ms Kartal has no idea what is coming, and always seems to be exactly where she needs to be whenever Ms Kartal hits the ball.

... but this may change, one hopes.

-- Edited by christ on Thursday 5th of February 2026 11:39:19 AM

paulisi · Tennis legend

Nope - might be a double bagel. Getting totally outplayed.

seagull · Tennis legend

The comeback is on! 6-0, 4-0 to 4-2

christ · Challenger qualifying

Well, that was a bit of a lesson.

... not helped by a few unforced errors when the opponent got a bit edgy near the finish line. A bit more ruthlessness at that critical time could have made it interesting, but in all I just think that the other lady played the better tennis throughout..

the addict · Tennis legend

QF:- Sonay Kartal (GBR) WR61 [Q2] lost to Sara Bejlek (CZE) WR101 0-6 2-6

PaulM · Tennis legend

Yeah it was a stunner from Bejlek. No issues with Sonay, just got demolished. It happens. On we go.

Mervatron2 · ATP qualifying

Ouch.

Great week though.

Peter too · Tennis legend

the addict wrote:

QF:- Sonay Kartal (GBR) WR61 [Q2] lost to Sara Bejlek (CZE) WR101 0-6 2-6

Sara is having a good week she demolished two players ranked higher than Sonay in two sets in the earlier rounds, including the 7th seed.

wolf · Tennis legend

SF:- Olivia Nicholls (GBR) / Tereza Mihalikova (SVK) CR54 (26+28) [4] vs Alexandra Eala (PHI) / Janice Tjen (INA) CR204 (136+68)

They may be up against an army of fans - midday tomorrow UK

korriban · Challenger level

The Czech girl was simply sensational today - watched the whole match - Sonay was outmatched from start to finish. No shame in that -what a prospect Sara is based on this performance..why havent I heard anything about her at all?!

indiana · Tennis legend

korriban wrote:
The Czech girl was simply sensational today - watched the whole match - Sonay was outmatched from start to finish. No shame in that -what a prospect Sara is based on this performance..why havent I heard anything about her at all?!

Indeed, where has the 20 yo been hiding this, looking at this win and apparently her two previous wins this week? It's a mugging!

WR 101 from 20 counters coming into this week, with a CH 75 from November. The SF has her up to live ranked 63 and she will be into the top 40 if she goes on to win the tournament.

Anyway, still a good week for Sonay, and she will be back into the top 50 as Cate McNally lost in Ostrava.

LordBrownof · Challenger qualifying

Every time I see Olivia and Tereza play, I wonder why Tereza never gave singles a proper go. Not because you can purely see from her doubles play, but because I remember her beating Katie Swan to win the Aus Open Juniors and then having some success early on at WTA 125 (I think) level. I can't find any reporting on why she switched to doubles and stuck with it at such a young age. Does anyone know?