Turkiye’s Sonmez aids ball girl, enters Australian Open second round

Turkiye’s Sonmez aids ball girl, enters Australian Open second roundZeynep Sonmez runs and helps a fainting ball girl by guiding her to a seat during her shock win in the first round.Published On 18 Jan 2026Zeynep Sonmez has earned a place in ‍fans’ hearts ‍as well as the second round of the Australian Open when the Turkish qualifier rushed to the aid of a ⁠ball girl who had fainted in the punishing ​Melbourne heat.The world number 112 was locked ‍in battle with 11th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova on Sunday and waiting to receive serve in the second set when the girl, ‍who was positioned ⁠beside the chair umpire, suddenly wobbled and fell on her back during day one of the main round.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Photos: Sporting moments of 2025 beyond the scoreboardlist 2 of 4‘I didn’t set out to break records’: Pakistan’s first female MMA fighterlist 3 of 4Ongoing Taliban-Olympic talks hope to prompt Afghan women’s rights U-turnlist 4 of 4‘Do you want a player to die on court?’ – Tennis stars wilt in China heatend of listThe girl picked herself up but stumbled again moments later, prompting 23-year-old Sonmez to stop play and run towards her.With the crowd applauding, Sonmez put the girl’s ​arm over her shoulder and ‌guided her to a seat so medical staff could provide treatment.Sonmez went on to lose the set, but she was able ‌to secure a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win and become the first woman ‌from Turkiye to reach the ⁠second round of the year’s first Grand Slam.When Russia’s Alexandrova found the net to seal the match the Turkish player’s way, Sonmez held her head in disbelief as she waved to her supporters in the stands.The crowd favourite walked off the court wrapped in the Turkish flag while more red-and-white flags of her home nation were waved by fans inside the 1573 Arena at Melbourne-park" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="4991" data-entity-type="location">Melbourne Park.The crowd got behind Sonmez as she pulled off a comeback win against the 11th seed [David Gray/AFP]“She was really struggling. She said she was fine but it was really obvious she was not fine,” Sonmez told the BBC.“So I went to grab her and said ‘sit down and drink something, you’re not fine’. As we were walking she fainted so luckily ​I grabbed her. She was really shaking.