World number 170 Kartal battles past Ostapenko to reach Wuhan final

WUHAN: World number 170 Sonay Kartal became the lowest-ranked player to reach a WTA 1000 final as she knocked out Jelena Ostapenko with a gritty 7-6 (11/9), 7-6 (7-5) win at the Wuhan Open on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Briton is playing just her second tour event since returning from a six-month injury layoff, having suffered a spinal stress fracture that sidelined her from March to September.

Kartal, who was ranked a career-high 44 in the world 15 months ago, is the lowest-ranked WTA 1000 finalist since the format’s introduction in 2009.

In a close affair with 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko, Kartal showed tremendous composure and dug herself out of multiple holes to become the first British finalist in Wuhan Open history.

“Wow, that was probably one of the toughest matches I’ve ever played,” said Kartal, who survived 50 winners coming off Ostapenko’s racquet to reach the biggest final of her career.

“I knew exactly how she was going to play. At times she’s unplayable and sometimes you just have to ride that wave.

“Mentally I think this is one of the best performances I’ve had in my career. I’m very proud of that one.”

After dismissing three consecutive seeds in her previous rounds, including No.6 Elina Svitolina and No.9 Belinda Bencic, Kartal made the 35th-ranked Ostapenko her latest victim to reach her second career tour-level final, and first at the WTA 1000 level.

Kartal nullified a double-break deficit in the opening set and saved two set points in the tiebreak to grab a one-set lead in a gruelling 72 minutes.

She had another successful comeback in the second set, rallying back from 1-4 down and saving three set points to punch her ticket to a final meeting with Iga Swiatek or fellow Pole Maja Chwalinska.