Britain's Sonay Kartal won on her return to the WTA Tour after almost six months out with injury as she beat Andrea Lazaro Garcia at the China Open. The 24-year-old injured her lower back at Indian Wells in March and only made her return to tennis at the Billie Jean King Cup on 22 September. Kartal, who narrowly lost to Czech world number 26 Marie Bouzkova on that return last week, produced a confident performance in Beijing to beat Spain's Lazaro Garcia 6-2 6-3.
The Briton broke the qualifier's serve five times - helped by four double faults from her opponent - and landed 69% of her first serves. World number 129 Kartal will face Chinese 31st seed Wang Xinyu next as she bids to work her way back up the world rankings. Fellow Britons Harriet Dart and Cameron Norrie both play later on Thursday.
Elsewhere, British number one Arthur Fery fell 6-4 3-6 6-4 to Portuguese lucky loser Jaime Faria in the Japan Open first round. Denmark's Holger Rune also lost on his first ATP Tour appearance for almost a year. Former world number four Rune tore his Achilles tendon in October 2025 and has since dropped out of the top 100.
He was beaten 6-3 6-1 by France's Kyrian Jacquet in Tokyo.
Source: BBC Sport · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing