LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's Sonay Kartal surged into the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time on Friday with a remarkable turnaround performance against French qualifier Diane Parry as she won nine games in a row to come from 4-1 down to triumph 6-4 6-2.
Parry, who hammered 12th seed Diana Shnaider in the last round, was in control early on but the Briton eventually got to grips with the challenge and, roared on by a partisan Number One court crowd, began an unstoppable comeback that secured the first set and put her 4-0 up in the second.
Parry’s spirit seemed to have disappeared along with her accuracy and the 23-year-old battling Briton took full advantage with a relentless forehand fusillade to claim the biggest victory of her injury-hit career.
"I think everyone saw that I started off pretty nervous – it’s definitely the biggest and most meaningful stage that I've played on," Kartal said.
"I've got a lot of people here and I really wanted to do them proud and do myself proud."
When Kartal upset 20th seed Jelena Ostapenko in the first round on Monday it launched a great day for Britain with an Open Era record seven players advancing, and another three on Tuesday.
Four days later only her and Emma Raducanu and Cameron Norrie remain, and the former US Open champion and regular junior rival of Kartal's faces a huge challenge to also progress to the fourth when she faces world number one Aryna Sabalenka later.
For a while it did not look as if Kartal would have a chance of making a first Grand Slam last 16 appearance as Parry made a composed and confident start.
The Frenchwoman’s low, skiddy backhand slice proved really challenging for the diminutive Briton and she was looking in command at 4-1 up.
Parry then saved three break points in the sixth game, only for Kartal to succeed on a fourth and that proved the turning point of the entire match.
With the crowd loving the fightback she looked visibly lifted and more mobile and set about a remarkable run of games, hitting harder and deeper and forcing Parry into ever-more desperate defence.
In a flash she had claimed the set and was 4-0 up in the second and, even though Parry eventually stemmed the flow, it was merely a delay in proceedings.
Kartal has enjoyed a great year and will now move into the world's top 50, saying consistency has been the key.
"I was doing a lot of good things on the practice court and I was playing with a lot of freedom and I always trusted that eventually it would transfer onto the match court," she said.
"With every match, every week that I'm playing the bigger events, I'm growing more confident as a player and as a person."
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ken Ferris)
