Sonay Kartal was left homeless mid-tournament as Wimbledon heroine reaches third round

 Sonay Kartal was once left homeless midway through a tennis tournament, leaving her scrambling about for somewhere to sleep. The British ace has been making waves at Wimbledon this year, reaching the third round for the second consecutive year.

Kartal defeated Viktoriya Tomova in straight sets during Wednesday's second-round clash and will now compete for a spot in the fourth round for the first time in her career. It comes after she stunned No.20 seed Jeena Ostapenko in her opening match, edging a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 thriller.

But midway through a tournament earlier in the year, Kartal revealed she'd been left homeless after her temporary apartment lease ran out midway through Indian Wells. The Brighton-born star was knocked out in the final round of qualifying and assumed that would mark the end of her time in California.

However, she was given a reprieve when Sloane Stephens withdrew from the competition, handing Kartal a place in the main draw as a result. Speaking at Indian Wells in March, she said: "I booked an apartment to see me through qualifying so I had to find somewhere else to stay last minute. I was homeless for about 12 hours. But it was a good problem to have."

It proved a worthwhile stay, considering Kartal reached the tournament's last-16 stage, beating Varvara Lepchenko, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Polina Kudermetova en route. Her pursuit of a second WTA Tour title came to an end against Aryna Sabalenka, who finished as runner-up in the spring 2025 event.

Kartal will be eyeing up another deep run at this year's Wimbledon, given several big-name seeds have already been knocked out of the tournament. She'll play either Diane Parry or 12th seed Diana Shnaider in this week's third-round match.

Reacting to her latest triumph in the second round, Kartal told the Court 3 spectators: "I knew that match was going to be tough, I know she's an incredible competitor and I knew I was going to have to go out and win that match. I think in the warm-up this morning, I felt good, on court today I felt good. I was seeing it and hitting it really clean. I think I just had one of those days where it was a very good day in the office!"

"I wanted to back up the run I had last year, I didn't want people to think that it was just one, two good weeks out of the year. This tournament, I really wanted to show I'm at this level now, I can consistently play. After the match against Jelena, I had so much confidence. I feel like with e ach match on grass and out here, I'm growing with confidence.

"On the court, I'm pretty tunnel-visioned. I don't like to give too much away, just like to keep calm and try and see out the match. The last 12 months, I've obviously kind of thrown myself onto the scene, top 50 so playing all the bigger matches."