World No. 170 Sonay Kartal has become the lowest-ranked WTA 1000 finalist since the format’s introduction in 2009 after stunning Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(9) 7-6(5) in the Wuhan Open semifinals. The Brit fought through a roller-coaster encounter to reach the second tour-level final of her career.
Making her tournament debut in Wuhan, Kartal survived a dramatic battle against the former French Open champion, recovering from a double-break deficit in the opening set. Ostapenko led 4-1 in both sets but failed to convert either advantage into a set win. In the 72-minute opener, she served for the set twice but could not close it out, missing three set points along the way. Kartal also squandered two set points before eventually prevailing 11-9 in a dramatic tiebreak.
In just the third all-unseeded semifinal in Wuhan tournament history, Kartal rallied from 1-4 down in the second set, winning three consecutive games to level at 4-4 before saving three set points to force a tiebreak, where she once again held her nerve to seal the victory.
Kartal has also made history for British tennis, becoming only the second British player to reach a Tier I/WTA 1000 final since the format’s introduction in 1990. She follows Johanna Konta, who reached three such finals in Beijing (2016), Miami (2017) and Rome (2019).
Kartal’s remarkable run in Wuhan has included victories over Anhelina Kalinina, ninth seed Belinda Bencic, 15th seed Jasmine Paolini and fifth seed Elina Svitolina, before she stunned Ostapenko in the semifinals to reach the biggest final of her career.
