This is one of the most common misconceptions I see about the character. Sonya is not a pressure character...the core element to her game is mix-ups.
A lot of posts here point out d4 - Military Stance, which you can follow with f1 for +1 advantage. But what people fail to realize is that there are only two fast options to follow a blocked f1 with:
1. Her d1 poke, which I believe is six frames. If the poke is blocked and she tries to follow with a stance mix-up, Sonya won't be at enough advantage to make a guess because she can be stopped by a counter-poke or they can jump away.
2. Her instant-air divekick, but this is very unsafe. Should it be blocked, you're eating a full combo punish.
I guess you could also include the EX Cartwheel, but are you willing to just throw them out and not think that the opponent will be smart enough to see it coming and block it, or whiff punish it? From my experience, Sonya doesn't have many other counter-measures when she's being pressured herself. A blocked cartwheel, EX or not, leaves you at negative frames.
And before anybody else makes such arguments - how are you gonna "pressure" with Sonya? 1 1 4 or 1 1 2? Unless it's off a jump-punch, they can be ducked mid-string and interrupted by d1 or d3. Poke to stance? Read the first criteria above about what happens with blocked pokes. f4? Possibly, but it's not that fast. Throws? That leads to a potential Wake-Up and therefore another guessing game.
