ISTANBUL, Turkey – Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari notched the biggest win of her career in the first round of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, knocking out the No.1 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets for her first ever Top 50 win.

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No.34-ranked Schmiedlova, who was playing as the top seed at a WTA event for the first time, was looking to reverse a disappointing run of form that has seen her win just one WTA match in 2016.

Meanwhile, the on-the-rise Sakkari has been knocking on the door all year, coming within a few points of a breakthrough twice previously. At the Australian Open, she made it through qualifying to reach the second round in her first appearance at the event, where she pushed the No.10 seed Carla Suárez Navarro to three sets. At the San Antonio 125K event she struck again, coming within two points of knocking out top-seeded Daria Gavrilova.

In the red clay of Istanbul’s Garanti Koza Arena, it seemed like Sakkari would be made to wait again; Schmiedlova quickly broke Sakkari’s serve in the first game, then consolidated comfortably for a 2-0 lead.

But instead of shrinking away, the 20-year-old qualifier turned up the pressure, varied the pace of her heavy groundstrokes and rattled off six straight games to take the set and leave the top seed reeling. Schmiedlova managed to get on board in the second set, but it wasn’t enough as Sakkari continued to attack the Slovak’s vulnerable second serve – she didn’t win any second serve points in the first set and only three all match long. Sakkari closed the match winning 6-2, 6-3.

“It´s the best win of my career. I am so happy,” Sakkari said after the match. “I like playing in Turkey. It feels like home here, people make me feel very welcome. I’m looking forward to my next match and hope to continue to play well.”

Sakkari will go on to play Hsieh Su-Wei in the next round. The Taiwanese player defeated Karin Knapp, 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-1.

No.8 seed Johanna Larsson also advanced to the second round after a stern challenge from Ukrainian qualifier Maryna Zanevska, who took her to within one point of defeat, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(5). Zanevska held two match points while serving at 6-5 in the third set, but Larsson broke her to send the match into a tiebreaker, emerging victorious after a tense two hours and forty minutes.

Local favorite Cagla Buyukakcay cruised against Russian qualifier Marina Melnikova, winning 6-3, 6-3 in her opening match. She commemorated the win by delighting the crowd with a quick post-match hitting session, signing dozens of autographs and, of course, taking several selfies.