Sonay shining in the Wimbledon spotlight

MANY British players have wilted under the Wimbledon spotlight but Sonay Kartal is revelling in it.

- By ANDY SIMS

The 23-year-old from Brighton roared into the fourth round after sweeping aside French qualifier Diane Parry.

She is in the last 16 of a grand slam for the first time in her career after a sizzling 6-4 6-2 victory.

When Jack Draper was knocked out by Marin Cilic on Thursday he admitted the expectation levels surrounding home players made him realise just how big two-time winner Andy Murray’s achievements were.

But laid-back Kartal is taking all the hype in her stride as she prepares for a crack at Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a place in the quarterfinals.

"I enjoy it. I think it’s an honour," she said. "If you've got a lot of attention on you, it means you're doing good things. I’m pretty calm and pretty collected. I don’t think it’s going to affect me too much. But no, I'm just enjoying it all. I'll still pretty young. It’s my first fourth round.

“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.