Sonay Kartal lost the Wuhan Open final on Sunday, beaten in three sets by Poland’s Maja Chwalinska after a week that took her from 170th in the world to the brink of the biggest title of her career. Kartal, 24, will still become the British number one when the WTA rankings come out on Monday.
The result ended Kartal’s bid to become the first Briton to win a WTA 1,000 title since Johanna Konta in 2017. It was only her third tournament back after six months out with a back injury, and the final was just the 10th match of her comeback. She entered the event through a protected injury ranking, which is given to players who have been out for six months or more.
Kartal dominated the opening set and took Chwalinska’s serve on her seventh break opportunity to win it. She led by a break early in the second, but Chwalinska turned it around. Kartal faced 13 break points in that set and lost serve three times, and the match went to a decider. She had asked for medical advice during the match, and her physical level came under scrutiny at the start of the second set.
Chwalinska, 25, is largely a counter-puncher, and she dragged Kartal into long rallies. In the third set the left-hander broke with a drop shot followed by a lob to lead 3-2. She felt a few nerves near the end, then converted her third championship point when Kartal sent a forehand long. It is Chwalinska’s first title at WTA Tour level, and it follows her run to this year’s French Open final.
A week of notable wins
Kartal’s route to the final went through former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, 2024 Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini and world number six Elina Svitolina. In Saturday’s semi-finals she beat 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
She moves up to 50th, just below her career high, and takes home prize money of about £290,000. Before collecting the runners-up trophy, she spoke to her team. “It’s not the result we wanted today, but those three people in my box are why I’m here, healthy and back to fitness,” Kartal said. “We’ve had an unbelievable week, not many people expected me to be here and bring the level I did.”
Kartal described going straight into WTA 1,000 events as being thrown into the “deep end”. This week suggests that decision has paid off.
Source: BBC Sport
