Sonay Kartal vows to keep swinging with threat to next Wimbledon opponent

Tattoo loving Sonay Kartal continued to make her mark at Wimbledon, with an astonishing fightback to book a place in the fourth round for the first time in her career. And the brilliant Brit refused to rule out going even further in the tournament, having emerged from the shadow of Emma Raducanu in style.

A nervous Kartal had found herself 3-0 down in the opening set to French rival Diane Parry.

But Kartal refused to panic - and reeled off an astonishing nine games on the spin to leave her opponent shell-shocked on Court One.

And it was too much for the world No.48 to cope with, as Kartal closed out a sensational straight sets 6-4, 6-2 triumph to make it into the second week.

Kartal inked her name down as the first woman into the fourth round - and vowed to keep on swinging when she takes on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova next.

She said: "This is the most meaningful stage I have played on, and I had lots of people here I wanted to do proud. I was doing good things on the practice court, and I always knew it would transfer onto the court.

"With every match, I am growing more confident as a player. Everyone in this tournament is an unbelievable player, but I respect everyone the same.

"I will try my best to approach the next match in the same way. I try to stay calm off court, but I am so grateful to get this win. I feel like I'm going to go out on the court in the next round, kind of with nothing to lose at the minute. I'm going to go swinging.

"I think the pressure that I'll feel is the pressure I will be putting on myself just wanting to perform as best as I can."

The omens hadn't looked great for the home favourite following Parry's fast start. But Kartal showed she is made of strong stuff, and launched a blistering fightback which saw her break Parry in the seventh game to get the set back on serve.

And it was the start of a stunning run which saw her blitz Parry and take total control of the match.

With corks popping on 'Henman Hill', Kartal continued the champagne tennis to finish the job in style, before raising both hands to the skies.

Kartal was 864th in the world three years ago, but is now on the cusp of breaking into the top 50.

She will now face world No.50 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who knocked out Naomi Osaka in round three.

Kartal, who has self-funded her own career so far, is also guaranteed a £240,000 pay day, whatever happens in the next round.

The 23-year-old also has 14 tattoos, one of which reads 'The Show Must Go On'.

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And the dog and karaoke-loving star from Brighton is determined to make the motto come true for as long as possible at SW19.

She added: "Growing up, my family was super supportive. I think I was super lucky with that. But the drive comes from myself. I'm super disciplined. I'm super determined.

"When I set my mind to something, I want to achieve it. I want to prove to myself that I can do it, as well. I'd say the drive is 100 per cent me."