Sonay Kartal has reached the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open, a WTA 1000 event, in just her third tournament back from injury. The Briton beat fifth seed Elina Svitolina 6-2 2-6 6-4 and will face former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko on Saturday for a place in Sunday’s final.
Speaking on court, Kartal said: “Despite winning the first set pretty comfortably, I knew what a great fighter she [Svitolina] is, so I knew that until the very last point was played, I was never safe.”
She added: “Super proud of the determination I managed to show in that match, and I just think it was solid composure from me throughout.”
“I’m breaking new ground this week. I’ve never reached a semis of a WTA 1000 and like I’ve said I absolutely love playing here and playing on these courts. The atmosphere was amazing today.”
A comeback in progress
Kartal, 24, reached the fourth round at Indian Wells in March. She then missed six months with a stress fracture in her back and returned last month at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. She was previously ranked as high as No 44 in the world and reached the third round in Beijing last week.
In Wuhan, she has beaten world No 48 Anhelina Kalinina, world No 12 Belinda Bencic, two-time Grand Slam singles finalist Jasmine Paolini and four-time major semi-finalist Svitolina. Currently 170th in the WTA rankings, Kartal will return to the top 100, moving to No 87 after her latest win. She also becomes the lowest-ranked player to reach the semi-finals in Wuhan. She missed three of this year’s four Grand Slams, including Wimbledon.
Ostapenko through in straight sets
Ostapenko came from 5-2 down in the first set to beat 11th seed Diana Shnaider 7-6 (8-6) 6-1. The Latvian hit 32 winners in the match, taking her tally to 138 for the week.
Who would want to play Kartal right now?
Pundit Naomi Broady said: “I don’t think Ostapenko is going to enjoy Kartal’s game style with the amount of balls Sonay is going to put back into play.”
“It will be interesting because when Svitolina upped her aggression in that match, Sonay wasn’t all that comfortable in set two, but, of course, it’s Ostapenko’s base game, isn’t it?”
“But Sonay is going to be expecting that. She’s seeing the ball big, so it’s going to be all about keeping the ball out of the strike zone.”
Broady also noted that Ostapenko has withdrawn from the doubles, possibly because of a forearm injury. The physio came onto court a couple of rounds ago against Jessica Pegula, and Ostapenko has had the arm taped since.
“She is not going to enjoy having someone like Kartal down the other end of the court. I think when the pressure is on Ostapenko’s back she doesn’t always perform her best.”
Other quarter-final results
American Ann Li, who upset top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the second round, could not cause another shock. Iga Swiatek won 6-4 6-1.
Swiatek will play Maja Chwalinska in an all-Polish derby. Chwalinska beat French Open finalist Maria Sakkari 6-0 3-6 7-5 to get there.
Spanish wonderkid to face Medvedev for a spot in the Shanghai final
Rafael Jodar became the youngest semi-finalist in Shanghai Masters history after beating Casper Ruud. The 20-year-old Spaniard lost the first set but rallied to win 4-6 6-4 6-3.
It was the fourth straight match at the ATP Masters 1000 event in which Jodar came back from losing the first set.
He will face Daniil Medvedev for a place in the final. The former US Open champion beat Tommy Paul 6-3 1-6 6-3.