Sonay Kartal defeats Belinda Bencic at Wuhan tournament — BBC Sport

British tennis player Sonay Kartal defeated ninth seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6:0, 7:5 at the Wuhan Open. The victory over the world number 12 was the 24-year-old Kartal's second biggest of her career by opponent ranking, BBC Sport reports.

Return after injury

Last year, Kartal rose to 44th place in the world rankings, but dropped to 170th after a six-month break due to injury. In March, the tennis player sustained a stress fracture in her back, which caused her to miss three of the season's four Grand Slam tournaments, including Wimbledon.

Before the forced break, the Briton defeated Americans Emma Navarro and Madison Keys, who were in the top 20, at the Indian Wells tournament. In the third round of that event, she withdrew from her match against Elena Rybakina because of back problems.

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Next opponent

Kartal returned to the court as part of the Great Britain team at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals last month. Last week, she reached the third round of the tournament in Beijing, where she notably defeated 31st seed Wang Xinyu of China. In Wuhan, before the match against Bencic, Kartal beat Ukrainian Angelina Kalinina.

Since returning to the WTA Tour, the Briton has won four of five matches. For a place in the quarter-finals, she will play 15th seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy or 20-year-old Czech player Nikola Bartunkova. Kartal said that she believed she could return to her previous level, although she did not know how quickly it would happen.

Former world number one Iga Swiatek also advanced to the next round of the Wuhan Open, defeating her compatriot Magdalena Frech 6:2, 6:1. The victory was the Pole's 40th of the season.