A Performance That Turns Heads
Sonay Kartal's comeback from a six-month layoff caused by a stress fracture in her back has gone from encouraging to genuinely exciting. The 24-year-old Briton defeated Swiss ninth seed Belinda Bencic 6-0 7-5 on Wednesday at the Wuhan Open, making it one of the most significant results of her career. Bencic, ranked 12th in the world and a Wimbledon semi-finalist earlier in the year, was swept aside in the opening set before finding some traction in the second. She led 3-1 in that set, but Kartal refused to buckle, recovering to force the issue at 5-5 before securing the decisive break and closing out the match.
The victory ranks as the second biggest of Kartal's career by opponent ranking, trailing only her win over then-highly-ranked Mirra Andreeva in Beijing last year. It also extended her excellent run since returning to tour action: she has now won four of her five matches since coming back, with her only previous competitive outing being Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup Finals appearance last month in Shenzhen.
Confidence Growing, Challenges Ahead
Kartal's results since her return have been remarkable given the context. Before injury struck in March, she had beaten top-20 Americans Emma Navarro and Madison Keys at Indian Wells. She had also climbed to a career-high ranking of 44, but slipped all the way to 170th during her enforced absence.
Speaking after the win, Kartal acknowledged mixed emotions. She said she had trusted her level would return but was surprised by the speed. "Can I sustain it? I think that's going to be the hardest challenge," she noted. Her next opponent is Italian 15th seed Jasmine Paolini, with a quarterfinal spot on the line.
TennisDraw users were tracking Kartal as an intriguing dark-horse pick in their Wuhan Open bracket builds.
