Britain’s Sonay Kartal reached the first WTA Tour final of her career when opponent Eva Lys retired through illness at the Jasmin Open Tunisia.
Kartal came through qualifying in Monastir and has enjoyed a career-best week, which could culminate in her maiden main tour title when she takes on Rebecca Sramkova in the final on Sunday.
Kartal, a former junior rival of Emma Raducanu, was only on court for 24 minutes before German Lys called it a day trailing 5-1.
The 22-year-old from Brighton will now aim to join Katie Boulter as a British WTA Tour winner this season, while victory would see Kartal break into the top 100 for the first time.
“Obviously no-one wants to win a match like that,” said Kartal. “She’s a super nice girl, which makes it even tougher. Obviously I’m happy to be in the final but it’s definitely not the way I would have liked to have won today.”
It will also be a first WTA Tour final for Slovakian Sramkova, and Kartal added: “I’m sure we’re both going to be feeling a bit heavy, we’re both going to be a bit nervous, but ultimately it will be who can put on the best performance on the big stage.”
It has been a standout summer for Kartal, who reached the third round of Wimbledon as a qualifier before winning two lower-tier tournaments in the UK and making the final round of qualifying at the US Open.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here