British number four Sonay Kartal held off the nerves to clinch a maiden WTA title with victory over Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova in the Jasmin Open final in Tunisia.
The 22-year-old won 6-3 7-5 and will move into the world’s top 100 for the first time on Monday.
After dominating her higher-ranked opponent in the middle of the match, Kartal lost three consecutive service games with success in sight, before eventually settling herself to serve it out.
Sramkova, number 136 in the world, fired long for a 39th unforced error of the match to hand the Briton her landmark victory on the first of two championship points.
“I’ve played some of my best tennis this week, had some of my best wins,” said Kartal, after coming through qualifying and dropping just one set in the tournament in Monastir.
“I feel like each match I’ve grown and grown. I tried so hard to put the occasion and the score behind me.”
Both women were playing in their first final at this level and Kartal warned beforehand that the player who handled the occasion best would come out on top.
After an early wobble, dropping her serve in the opening game, she showed the greater tactical acumen to exert control.
Kartal won the final three games of the opening set and opened a 4-1 lead in the second before her serve started to let her down, albeit under intense pressure from a resurgent Sramkova.
She overcame that pressure, breaking her 27-year-old opponent a total of four times in a second set that lasted 71 minutes, eventually sealing the win in just under two hours.
“I started the year with the goal of being top 150, so now I have passed that,” added Kartal, who was 298 in the world before reaching the third round of Wimbledon this year.
“I’m just trying to end the year in the top 100.”
Elsewhere, Britain’s Jacob Fearnley, 23, won his third title in four months on the Challenger Tour, beating 27-year-old Frenchman Quentin Halys 0-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 in Rennes.
He is now expected to rise to 129 in the world, up 396 places since graduating from Texas Christian University in May.
