SONAY Kartal has already been granted a wild card into the women’s singles qualifying at Wimbledon next week.

However, the 21-year-old from Brighton wants to gain direct entry into the first round of the women’s singles at Wimbledon the week after.

To do that the British woman must win the singles at the Lexus Ilkley Trophy.

“That’s my goal,” admitted the Great Britain No.8 after matching her achievements of last year in reaching the semi-finals of the $100,000 ITF Women’s World Tour event at Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club.

Kartal, who lost in two tie-break sets to eventual runner-up Jodie Burrage at Ilkley last year, marched confidently into the last four again with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over fifth seed Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov (Spain).

The world No.303 said after her victory: “I knew that the match wasn’t over until the last ball was hit and I knew that I would have to raise my levels.

“I went a break down in the first set, but I didn’t panic, stayed steady and kept chipping away.

“I knew that I had the points to defend (from reaching the semi-finals last year) and each game over the past couple of weeks I am getting more confident.”

When asked what her biggest assets are, Kartal said: “Mentally I don’t get too fazed, stay relaxed and keep my composure and use my forehand as much as possible.”

Kartal will now play top seed Emma Navarro (United States) today.

The 22-year-old world No.68 from New York had two singles yesterday, defeating Himeno Sakatsume 6-4, 6-1 in the last 16 and another Japanese opponent, seventh seed Nao Hibino, 6-1, 7-5 in the quarter-finals.

The other semi-final is between defending champion Dalma Galfi (Hungary) and Sweden’s Mirjam Bjorklund.

Galfi was put through the mill in two matches that lasted 4hr 10min in total.

Firstly, the third seed defeated American qualifier Katrina Scott 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in 1hr 48min and then, in an evening thriller on Centre Court, beat Colombian qualifier Emiliana Arango 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) after which the 24-year-old was emotionally spent.

In contrast, Bjorklund had it easy, defeating qualifier Ankita Raina (India) 6-2, 6-1 in the last 16 and then beating the Ukraine’s Daria Snigur 4-0 retired.

The last British player bowed out of the men’s singles, but not without a fight.

Qualifier Charles Broom, from Hertfordshire, was defeated 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 in another Centre Court thriller by Hungary’s Zsombor Piros in 2hr 28min in a quarter-final of the $125,000 ATP Challenger.

Piros will now play third seed Sebastian Ofner (Austria), while in-form Frenchman Arthur Cazaux, runner-up to Andy Murray at Nottingham last week, meets fourth seed Jason Kubler (Australia), a semi-finalist at Ilkley in 2018 who took Murray to 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a quarter-final at Surbiton two weeks ago.

Kartal isn’t the only Briton in action today at Ilkley, however, as Holly Hutchinson and Madeleine Brooks face Nao Hibino (Japan) and Natalija Stevanovic (Serbia) in a semi-final of the women’s doubles.

The men’s doubles are already through to the final stage, where third seeds Robert Galloway (USA) and Ilkley regular John-Patrick Smith (Australia) face Gonzalo Escobar (Ecuador) and Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kazakhstan).