Turkish tennis player Çağla Büyükakçay qualifies for women's singles in French Open
| IHA Photo


Turkey's Çağla Büyükakçay on Friday became the country's first female tennis player to qualify for the prestigious French Open's women's singles category.

Beating Czech opponent Klara Koukalova in the qualifiers two sets to nil Friday, Büyükakçay will be the first ever female Turkish player to reach the main draw stage.

The 27-year-old Adana native, ranked 85th overall in women's tennis, took on Koukalova in the third round of the French Open qualifying matches.

Büyükakçay defeated Koukalova with scores of 6-1 and 6-3.

The history-making tennis player shared her feelings with Anadolu Agency after the match, saying she was glad to reach the main draw stage.

"This is my first year; we came here with high hopes. I played against very tough players since the beginning," she said.Büyükakçay became the first ever Women's Tennis Association (WTA) title winner - singles or doubles - in Turkish tennis history and clinched another historic achievement: the first Turkish woman to break into the WTA singles Top 100 setting a new career-high (82) on April 24.