18 January 2026

Zeynep Sönmez Inscribes Her Name in the Second Round at the Australian Open

 At the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, our national tennis player Ms. Zeynep Sönmez, who advanced to the main draw from the qualifiers, defeated world number 11 Ms. Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, achieving one of the biggest victories of her career and inscribing her name in the second round of the tournament.

While Ms. Zeynep is ranked 112th in the WTA rankings, the experienced tennis player Ms. Alexandrova took the court as a strong opponent, ranked world number 11, who has seen deeper rounds in Grand Slams.

In the first set of the match, Ms. Sönmez made good use of her aggressive passing game and solid service performance against Ms. Alexandrova. She managed critical points well and established pressure on Ms. Alexandrova with hard and deep shots. Coming back from 2-5 down against Ms. Alexandrova in the first set and saving two set points, Ms. Zeynep claimed the first set 7-5.

Ms. Sönmez started the second set by breaking serve. Ms. Alexandrova's counter-attacks and patient rallies caused Ms. Sönmez to make consecutive errors. Towards the end of the set, Ms. Alexandrova became more aggressive on short balls and won this set 6-4, bringing equality to the sets.

The final set was fiercely contested. Ms. Sönmez was the side that capitalized well on break opportunities and disrupted her opponent's serves with aggressive returns at crucial moments. Despite her experience, Ms. Alexandrova struggled to respond to Ms. Sönmez's tempo, and Ms. Sönmez concluded the deciding set 6-4.

With this victory, Ms. Zeynep became the first Turkish female tennis player to advance to the second round in singles at the Australian Open, and this triumph was also recorded as one of the greatest victories of Ms. Zeynep's professional career. Ms. Sönmez will face Ms. Anna Bondar in the second round on Wednesday, January 21.

18 January 2026