Britain's Sonay Kartal upset ninth seed Belinda Bencic as she continued to build post-injury momentum at the Wuhan Open. Kartal reached a career-high ranking of 44 last year but has slipped to 170th in the world after a six-month injury absence. Having returned to action for Great Britain at last month's Billie Jean King Cup Finals, the 24-year-old reached the third round at the Beijing Open last week before beating Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina in her opening match in Wuhan.
The impressive 6-0 7-5 victory over Swiss world number 12 Bencic, a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year, was the second biggest win of Kartal's career by ranking. "I trusted that I would be able to get my level back, I just didn't know how quickly," Kartal said. "I did a lot of things right today but I still think there's a long way to go."
"I can produce the level, but can I sustain it? I think that's going to be the hardest challenge. I'm happy to be back, I'm feeling good."
Kartal will face Italian 15th seed Jasmine Paolini or 20-year-old Czech Nikola Bartunkova for a quarter-final place. She suffered a stress fracture in her back in March, which meant she missed three of this year's four Grand Slams, including Wimbledon. Before that enforced break, she had beaten American top-20 seeds Emma Navarro and Madison Keys at Indian Wells. Since her return, she has won four of her five matches on the WTA Tour. Former world number one Iga Swiatek also progressed, recording her 40th win of the season with a 6-2 6-1 victory over fellow Pole Magdalena Frech.
Source: BBC Sport · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing