WTA Sonay Kartal Jelena Ostapenko WTA Wuhan 2026

Eagle makes history for Great Britain by reaching the final of the WTA 1000 in Wuhan

Andrés Tomás Rico - 17 Oct 2026
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Kartal makes history for Great Britain after reaching the WTA 1000 final in Wuhan. Photo: Getty Images

Sonay Kartal has broken a nine-year streak without a British female tennis player reaching a WTA 1000 final. The last one was Johanna Konta when she lifted the title at the Miami Open in 2017, and now it’s the turn of the 24-year-old player who achieves her best result in a WTA 1000 after winning a closely contested semifinal match at the WTA 1000 in Wuhan against Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(9), 7-6(5).

The match was a true rollercoaster from the start. Ostapenko broke in the first game, got ahead 4-1, and served to close the first set at 5-3, but the Brit fought back and found her game to bring it to 5-5. The Latvian broke again and had a set point, but she didn’t take advantage of it, and the first set would be decided in the tiebreak. There, the veteran player had set points again and wasted them as well. Meanwhile, Kartal secured the set on her third opportunity.

Kartal climbs a total of 120 places after reaching the final of the WTA 1000 in Wuhan

The second set was a replica of the first. Ostapenko broke again in the first game and went ahead 4-1, had a set point at 5-4, and two more at 6-5, but continued to miss the chances, and Kartal grew in confidence to take the victory in the second tiebreak.

Thus, Kartal will not only play in the final of the WTA 1000 in Wuhan, but will also rise a whopping 120 places to position herself at 50th. If she manages to defeat Iga Swiatek or Maja Chwalinska, one of whom will be her rival in the final, she would become the new world number 37. 
 

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Kartal hace historia para Gran Bretaña tras meterse en la final del WTA 1000 de Wuhan