Sonay Kartal Beats Ostapenko to Reach Wuhan Final

Sonay Kartal is into the biggest final of her life. The world No. 170 trailed 4-1 in both sets against Jelena Ostapenko, saved six set points along the way, and still walked off with a 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (7-5) win in the Wuhan Open semifinals on Saturday.

That result makes Kartal the lowest-ranked player to reach a WTA 1000 final, per BBC Sport and The Guardian. It is also her first final at this level, and it comes in just her third event back from a back injury that kept her off tour for six months.

How Kartal survived Ostapenko

Ostapenko came out swinging. The 2017 French Open champion cracked backhand winners off second serves on the first two points of the match and broke right away. She finished with 50 winners and nine aces, per BBC Sport, and for long stretches she looked impossible to stop.

Kartal never blinked. She clawed back one break in the opener, watched Ostapenko fail to serve it out at 5-4 and 6-5, then edged a marathon tiebreak 11-9. The second set followed the same script. Kartal fell behind early, recovered the break, saved two more set points on serve at 6-5, and closed out the second tiebreak 7-5.

"That was probably one of the toughest matches I've ever played," Kartal said. "At times she is unplayable and you have to ride that wave. Mentally, this is one of the best performances of my career."

A comeback nobody saw coming

This run did not start with big expectations. Kartal returned last month at the Billie Jean King Cup, won two matches in Beijing, then came to Wuhan and started knocking out names. She beat Belinda Bencic, Jasmine Paolini and world No. 6 Elina Svitolina before Saturday's semifinal.

"I definitely did not think that I would find this level this fast," she told the WTA this week. "I've had my best wins in my third tournament back."

The rewards are already locked in. The Guardian reports Kartal is guaranteed to jump back into the top 50 next week and pass Katie Boulter as the British No. 1. Per the WTA, she is just the second British woman to reach a WTA 1000 final, joining Johanna Konta.

Chwalinska stands in the way Sunday

The other half of the draw delivered its own shock. Maja Chwalinska, the 16th seed, beat Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 in an all-Polish semifinal. Swiatek took a medical timeout late in the first set and played the rest of the match with her left thigh bandaged. Chwalinska, a French Open finalist this year, is also chasing her first WTA 1000 title.

Nobody had this final on their bracket a week ago. Kartal says she has been the underdog in every match this week, and she has won every one of them. One more and a player who started the tournament at No. 170 leaves Wuhan with a WTA 1000 trophy. Sunday cannot come fast enough.