Sonay Kartal Reaches the Biggest Final of Her Career at the Wuhan Open

British tennis player Sonay Kartal is having a dream week. She beat Jelena Ostapenko, a former Grand Slam champion, in the semi-final of the Wuhan Open and reached the biggest final of her career. One more win would give her a WTA 1,000 title, which is one of the most prestigious prizes in tennis outside the four Grand Slams.

Kartal is 24 and is Britain's number five. She is playing only her third event since coming back from a six-month break because of a back injury. She won 7-6, 7-6 against Ostapenko, a player from Latvia who won the French Open in 2017. Both sets went to a tie-break, a short game that decides a close set.

The match was full of drama. Kartal was behind 4-1 in both sets, but she stayed calm. She also faced three set points in the first set and three more in the second, and she survived them all. Ostapenko hits very hard, and sometimes makes mistakes under pressure. Kartal said it was probably one of the toughest matches she had ever played. She said that at times Ostapenko is unplayable, and you have to ride that wave. She also said it was one of the best mental performances of her career.

Kartal is ranked 170th in the world, which makes her the lowest-ranked player to reach a WTA 1,000 final since the format began in 1990. Before her injury break she was ranked 54th, and she has been as high as 44th. Reaching the final will lift her back into the top 50 and make her Britain's number one player when the new rankings come out on Monday.

Her path to the semi-final included wins over Tokyo Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, Jasmine Paolini, who was the 2024 Wimbledon runner-up, and Elina Svitolina. Her opponent in Sunday's final will be Iga Swiatek, who has won six Grand Slams, or Maja Chwalinska, a French Open finalist.