Kartal upsets Svitolina to reach Wuhan semi-finals
Sonay Kartal beat fifth seed Elina Svitolina to reach the Wuhan Open semi-finals, continuing an impressive return to tennis after a long injury lay-off. The win puts the British player into her first WTA 1000 semi-final and marks a notable milestone in her comeback.
Kartal, 24, won 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 against world number six Svitolina, having also beaten Jasmine Paolini and Belinda Bencic in earlier rounds. She missed more than six months with a stress fracture in her back and has now won six of eight matches since returning; she will face Jeļena Ostapenko on Saturday. Kartal is the second British player, after Johanna Konta, to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final since the format began in 2009.
- Kartal beat Svitolina in three sets in Wuhan.
- She is through to her first WTA 1000 semi-final.
- The win extends her strong return from a back injury.
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The Wuhan Open is a women’s tennis tournament in China, part of the WTA Tour. WTA 1000 events are among the tour’s highest-level tournaments outside the four Grand Slams, and reaching the semi-finals means a player is among the last four in the draw.
Sonay Kartal is a British player who returned to competition after more than six months out with a back stress fracture. Elina Svitolina, her opponent, is a Ukrainian player ranked among the world’s top players; Johanna Konta was the previous British player to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final.