Zeynep Sonmez won in straight sets to advance to the third round of a Grand Slam for the second time in six months.
Published January 21, 2026
Amid deafening cheers and waves of red flags, Turkiye’s Zeynep Sonmez defeated Anna Bondar in straight sets in the year’s first tennis Grand Slam to reach the third round of the Australian Open.
The world No. 112, playing on one of Melbourne Park’s small show courts, won 6-2, 6-4 in 90 minutes on Wednesday.
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Sonmez, who became the first Turkish player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam at Wimbledon last year, was applauded by a partisan crowd on Court 7 who chanted her name relentlessly.
The 23-year-old from Istanbul defeated 11th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in her first match to become the first woman from her country to reach the second round in Melbourne.
“I was really grateful that there were so many Turks and it felt like home,” she said after scoring a resounding victory over world No. 74 Bondar and being cheered by her flag-waving compatriots.
“I was a little nervous at first, but I think I’m getting used to it.”
She added: “I felt really good on the court. I really felt the support and it felt like we were all really playing together.”
Sonmez will face a tough challenge in the next round, facing world No. 94 Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
However, the Turkish audience favorite can expect more support as she progresses further, and admitted that the support in Australia was better than anything she had experienced to date.
“There were a lot of people at Wimbledon, and there were a lot of people in the first round here,” she said.
“But today… I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”
Sonmez, who won the only WTA title of her career in Mexico in 2024, said the Turkish fans were so loud that she “couldn’t even hear what I was thinking.”
She was also motivated by the knowledge that her compatriots returned home early in the morning to watch television.
“I know they’re supporting me. I know they’re watching me. It was like 3 a.m. and I know there were a lot of people who just got up to see me.”
Earlier on Sunday, Sonmez won hearts when he rushed to the rescue of a ball girl who had passed out in Melbourne’s brutal heat.
