Britain's Sonay Kartal has reached the biggest final of her career at the Wuhan Open, just 25 days after making her return from a six-month injury layoff. The 24-year-old, who dropped to No. 170 in the world after being sidelined by a back injury, beat former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(9) 7-x to reach a maiden WTA 1000 final.
Upset run continues
Kartal had already defeated world No. 6 Elina Svitolina and top-20 stars Belinda Bencic and Jasmine Paolini en route to the final four. The Brighton local then pulled off an epic escape to beat world No. 34 Ostapenko in the biggest semi-final of her career.
The world No. 170 quickly went a double-break down before fighting back to force a tiebreak against Ostapenko. She twice broke back when the Latvian served for the opening set, and saved a set point at 5-6.
Epic tiebreaks
The tiebreak was a nail-biter with constant twists and turns. Set points came and went for both women. Some on their own serve, some not. After 70 minutes, Kartal finally took it 11-9 when Ostapenko sent the ball wide.
The second set followed a very similar pattern. From 1-3 down, Kartal levelled the score again at 4-4. She twice had to serve to stay in the set, and across the two games, she saved three set points. Again, Ostapenko couldn't believe that she hadn't won them. Again, they went to a tiebreak.
