WUHAN — Britain's Sonay Kartal delivered the second biggest win of her career by ranking as she upset ninth seed Belinda Bencic 6-0 7-5 at the Wuhan Open, continuing her rapid post-injury momentum. The victory over the Swiss world number 12, a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year, followed her opening win against Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina and underlined her resurgence after slipping from a career-high ranking of 44 to 170th during a six-month absence.
The 24-year-old said: "I trusted that I would be able to get my level back, I just didn't know how quickly," adding "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." Former world number one Iga Swiatek also progressed in Wuhan, recording her 40th win of the season with a 6-2 6-1 victory over fellow Pole Magdalena Frech.
Kartal suffered a stress fracture in her back in March which forced her to miss three of this year's four Grand Slams, including Wimbledon where she reached the fourth round last year. She had been in strong form before the enforced break, earning victories over American top-20 seeds Emma Navarro and Madison Keys at Indian Wells before retiring against Elena Rybakina in the third round with the back issue.
Having returned to action for Great Britain at last month's Billie Jean King Cup Finals, Kartal reached the third round at the Beijing Open last week, beating Chinese 31st seed Wang Xinyu, and has now won four of her five matches since returning to the WTA Tour. She will face Italian 15th seed Jasmine Paolini or 20-year-old Czech Nikola Bartunkova for a place in the quarter-finals.