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Zeynep Sonmez ended her Australian Open campaign in the third round in Melbourne after a three-set loss to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, closing a landmark tournament for Turkish tennis where she became the first Turkish player to reach this round of the season’s first Grand Slam.
The match took place at the KIA Arena, where Sonmez entered ranked 112 in the world and faced world number 94 Putintseva. It pushed the contest into a deciding set and saw Putintseva secure victory to advance to the fourth round.
The opening set saw Sonmez lose her serve in the second game.
She then fell behind 3-0 after a series of unforced errors, recovered two games and broke serve, then dropped her own service game again, allowing Putintseva to maintain control and close the set 6-3.
The second set followed with Putintseva breaking serve early and moving ahead 2-0, Sonmez breaking back to level at 3-3, holding serve to lead, losing a key service game despite leading 4-0, then breaking again to force a tie-break, which she won 7-6 to level the match.
The deciding set opened with Putintseva taking a 3-0 lead, reducing errors in longer rallies, and controlling the closing games to win 6-3 and secure the match.
Match score
Putintseva won the match 2-1 in sets and advanced to the fourth round, while Sonmez completed a historic Australian Open run as the first Turkish player to reach the third round of the tournament.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
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