PARIS, France – Cagla Buyukakcay continued her historic clay court season at the biggest stage of the surface, defeating Aliaksandra Sasnovich 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 to become the first Turkish woman in the Open Era to win a match at a Grand Slam.

Just her presence at the 2016 French Open was historic enough: Buyukakcay joined Ipek Solyu this week as the first two Turkish women to appear in a Grand Slam. Buyukakcay battled through qualifying to book her spot in the main draw.

She let slip a pair of early break chances to go down a set to Sasnovich, who was also looking for her first match win at Roland Garros. The pair traded for breaks of serve in the second to stay toe to toe and send the set into a tiebreak, where Buyukakcay rattled off five straight games to force a decider. She won five straight games to close out the match and add another historic win to her repertoire.

Earlier in the clay season, the No.83-ranked qualifier rewrote the Turkish tennis history books in front of her home country at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup. She became the first from her country to reach a WTA semifinal, final and capture a title, as well as the first to break into the Top 100.

“I wanted to cry after the match, because it’s very important for Turkish tennis. I will be in the Top 100, which will be the first time for Turkish tennis. Probably, I will also be in the main draw at Wimbledon for the first time in my career – and also in Turkish history. So that’s why I was so emotional at the end,” Buyukakcay said after the final in Istanbul.

More to come…