Sonay Kartal underlined her growing status as a homegrown player to watch through the upcoming British grass court season after claiming her fourth title of the year on the ITF World Tennis Tour.

The 20-year-old from Brighton won her fourth title in her last five tournaments - and fourth in a row on British soil - with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Chinese Taipei's Joanna Garland at W25 Nottingham.

The victory was her second in as many weeks at a W25 event in Nottingham and followed her triumphs at W25 Birmingham and W25 Glasgow in February.

"It’s always hard after you win one week to try and get yourself up for the week straight after," said Kartal. "I’m happy with how I played my game this week. I was very consistent. Just managed to keep a level head throughout. I played some of my best tennis in the final today."

Kartal's triumph saw her climb 59 spots to a career-high WTA ranking of No. 316 on Monday, becoming the 10th-highest ranked British woman and the second youngest on that list after 19-year-old Emma Raducanu.

Her 10th consecutive match-win improved her win-loss record on hard courts to 21-1 for the season so far.

“I’m very happy with the level I’ve managed to put on this year,” Kartal said. “I’ve managed to stay injury free which is a big thing for me. I’m just going to try and keep this consistent level, and I’m excited to play on the grass courts in a few weeks’ time.”

Kartal, whose good form saw her called up to Anne Keothavong’s Great Britain team for their Billie Jean King Cup clash with Czech Republic last month (which the Czechs ultimately won 3-2 in Prague), is garnering a reputation for her cool-headed demeanour on court – especially in the pressure moments.

“Luckily for me it’s something I’ve always had,” she said. “I remember being really small and I was still always really calm. I think mentally that’s probably one of my biggest assets on court. If it’s in a high-pressure situation I can manage to keep myself calm and collected on court.”

Kartal, who made her ITF World Tennis Tour debut in September 2019 and has played just 13 professional tournaments to date, has a 26-2 win-loss record overall this year. Her only defeats came against compatriot Sarah Beth Grey in the second round at W25 Loughborough in January, and Diana Shnaider in the quarter-finals at W25 Antalya in March.

Her latest title win was the sixth ITF triumph of her career, with her four wins this year at W25 level adding to tournament victories at W15 Antalya and W15 Monastir during her first full season as a professional in 2021.

Kartal has never played a professional tournament on grass, but sees no reason why her positive form can't continue when the tour turns to turf in the weeks to come.

"I’m excited," she said. "I think last time I was on grass was in 2019 so I’m excited to try and get a full grass court season in this year and try and continue this run that I’m on."