Sonay Kartal vs Viktoriya Tomova

Sonay Kartal vs Viktoriya Tomova – Wimbledon 2025 Preview

Tournament: Wimbledon, WTA Main Draw – 2nd Round

Date: July 3, 2025

Surface: Grass

Location: All England Club, London

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🧠 Form & Context

Viktoriya Tomova

• 🎁 Fortunate break: Benefited from Ons Jabeur’s retirement in R1, but hadn’t won a tour-level main draw match since Miami.
• 📉 Poor 2025 form: Just 5 wins in 20 tour-level main draw matches this season, now ranked outside the top 100.
• 🟡 Wimbledon plateau: Reaches 2R at SW19 for the fourth time, but is 0–5 in Slam 2R matches in her career.
• 📍 Grass capability: Semifinalist at Bad Homburg last year, showing some comfort on grass.
• 🧠 Veteran savvy: At 30, relies on experience and point construction, but struggles to close out top-level matches.

Sonay Kartal

• 🚀 Breakout moment: Pulled off a huge upset in R1 by beating former Wimbledon semifinalist Jelena Ostapenko.
• 📈 Rising star: Reached R3 last year as a qualifier and aims to repeat that run on home soil.
• 🏆 Big match history: Has beaten Kasatkina and Haddad Maia this season, proving ability to step up vs big names.
• 📉 Consistency watch: Has not won back-to-back main draw matches since March at Indian Wells.
• 🇬🇧 Crowd boost: Home favorite status adds energy—especially after a thrilling three-set win over a seed.

🔍 Match Breakdown

This is a classic “momentum vs survival” duel.

Kartal rides in with confidence and a statement win over Ostapenko. Her aggressive yet composed baseline game can hit through Tomova’s defense. If she serves well and takes initiative, she should dictate this matchup.

Tomova, by contrast, reached this stage through default, and has struggled to win back-to-back matches at this level all year. Her only path to victory is drawing errors from Kartal via change of pace and direction—especially if the Brit’s rhythm dips like it has in previous tournaments after strong R1 performances.

Kartal must stay mentally locked in and avoid the drop-off that followed some of her big wins this year (e.g., vs Boulter or Townsend). If she does that, this is hers to lose.

🔮 Prediction

The form, confidence, and home crowd are all on Kartal’s side. If she maintains the same composure she showed against Ostapenko, she should overpower Tomova.

Prediction: Kartal in 2 sets, with Tomova likely only keeping it close if Kartal's level dips.