INDIAN WELLS -- Sonay Kartal walked off the court here a week ago a three-set loser to Clervie Ngounoue in the final round of qualifying. Safe to say, the 23-year-old from Great Britain wasn’t feeling particularly lucky.

“Obviously, I was super disappointed,” Kartal said Monday. “But that’s one of the things about being so close to getting directly into the main draw. I knew I had a shot at being a lucky loser.”

And when Sloane Stephens (foot injury) withdrew from the BNP Paribas Open’s main draw, Kartal suddenly found new life -- her first time as a lucky loser. She’s made the most of that reprieve. On Wednesday, the lowest-ranked woman left in the tournament will meet World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a Round of 16 match.

A few hours before Sabalenka predictably advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Lucia Bronzetti, Kartal continued the most surprising run at Indian Wells. She was a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Polina Kudermetova and has already guaranteed herself a six-figure payday.

When Kudermetova came out flashing groundstrokes, fast and low, Kartal did not flinch. With confidence born of her recent experiences, she dug in.

“With a game-style like hers, she’s going to hit winners left, right and center the entire match,” Kartal told wtatennis.com. “It was just something I had already accepted and for me the most important thing was to hold serve and keep the scoreboard pressure on her.”

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Kartal’s opening-round match against Varvara Lepchenko began with a first-set tiebreak, but she ultimately prevailed 7-6(6), 6-2. No one was prepared for what went down in the second round -- a stunningly one-sided 6-2, 6-1 result over No. 16 Beatriz Haddad Maia. In a tournament of some significant precedents, it was her first career win over a Top 20 player.

This isn’t the first time Kartal has come out of thin air.

Sonay Kartal

Jimmie48/WTA

She won three qualifying matches last year at Wimbledon, her home Grand Slam, then beat two Top 50 players, Sorana Cirstea and Clara Burel. Kartal lost in the third round to World No. 2 Coco Gauff, but that experience on the All England Club’s sprawling Court No. 1 may help her against Sabalenka.

“I learned so much from that match against Coco,” Kartal said. “You go into it feeling like you have to bring your best game, you have to be perfect. I feel like you almost have to overplay. That can sometimes overcomplicate things, and that’s what I think I did in that match. 

“I used that against Beatriz the other day. I knew I didn’t have to overplay and that my level was there and I could come into it relaxed. Obviously, I’m going to go in with the same mindset.”

And then, two months later, it happened again. Kartal won all seven matches, including qualifying, at the Jasmin Open in Tunisia. It was her first Hologic WTA Tour-level title.

Kartal came into this event at No. 83 in the PIF WTA Rankings and, even if she loses to Sabalenka, will soar to a career high. She lost in qualifying last month in Doha, and Indian Wells is her first main draw in a WTA 1000. Fortuitously, Kartal is comfortable in these breezy conditions.

She started playing tennis at the age of six at the outdoor Pavillion & Avenue Tennis Club by the sea in Brighton -- and trains there to this day. She rates the win over Haddad Maia as the biggest of her career and Monday’s against Kudermetova next.

Incredibly, only a year ago, Kartal’s career was in jeopardy with a health scare that required hospitalization. 

“I had no idea if I was going to play,” Kartal said. “It was touch and go what was going to happen. It 100 percent changed my outlook."

Kartal, despite persistent questioning, declined to reveal the ailment.

“They [the media] tried at Wimbledon,” she said, smiling triumphantly, “but they didn’t get past me.”

Yet another win for Kartal in a year of unprecedented victories.