WUHAN — Britain's Sonay Kartal continued her impressive comeback from long-term injury with a ruthless 6-2 6-0 victory over former Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini to reach the Wuhan Open quarter-finals. The 24-year-old, playing in only her third tournament since missing more than six months with a stress fracture in her back, has now won five of her seven matches since returning to action.
"Against someone as good as Jasmine is, I knew I had to be solid from the start and not let up. From my side, it was a pretty flawless performance," Kartal said. The former world number 44 backed up her straight-sets win over ninth seed Belinda Bencic in the previous round, maintaining a high level from the baseline as Paolini unravelled with a series of unforced errors. Using a protected injury ranking, Kartal has not dropped a set in Wuhan in victories over Ukrainian world number 48 Anhelina Kalinina, 2020 Olympic champion Bencic and two-time major finalist Paolini.
Kartal had been riding the crest of a wave in the early part of the season after breaking into the world's top 50, reaching two WTA quarter-finals and recording notable wins over 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys and former world number eight Emma Navarro at Indian Wells before meeting now world number one Elena Rybakina in the fourth round. She was forced to retire with the back injury, which proved more serious than first thought, leaving her unable to brush her teeth without "being in agony". Missing Wimbledon — where she reached the fourth round in 2025 — was a particularly tough choice, but resigning herself to not rushing a comeback has proved a wise decision.
Her first match back a little over three weeks ago, representing Great Britain at the BJK Cup, ended in a narrow defeat before she won two matches to reach the third round in Beijing on her WTA Tour return. She carried that momentum into Wuhan and now meets Ukraine's Elina Svitolina — a four-time Grand Slam semi-finalist — in the quarter-finals.