Tennis player Kartal crushes Paolini to reach Wuhan Open quarter-finals — BBC Sport

At the Wuhan Open tournament in Wuhan, British tennis player Sonay Kartal defeated Italy's Jasmine Paolini 6:2, 6:0 to reach the quarter-finals. For the 24-year-old Kartal, this is her fifth win in seven matches since returning to the court after a lengthy injury, BBC Sport reports.

Three wins without dropping a set

Paolini was the 15th seed at the tournament and had previously played in a Wimbledon final. In the previous round, Kartal beat ninth seed Belinda Bencic, the 2020 Olympic champion, in two sets.

At the Wuhan Open, the Briton has not yet lost a single set to her opponents. Before her matches against Bencic and Paolini, she defeated Ukrainian player Anhelina Kalinina, the world No. 48.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Return after injury

Kartal missed more than six months due to a stress fracture in her back, the first serious injury of her career. At the start of the season, she entered the world's top 50, reached two WTA quarter-finals and, at Indian Wells, defeated 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys and former world No. 8 Emma Navarro.

In her fourth-round match at Indian Wells against Elena Rybakina, Kartal was forced to withdraw due to a back injury. Her first match after recovering, as part of the Great Britain team at the Billie Jean King Cup, ended in defeat, and she later earned two wins and reached the third round of the tournament in Beijing.

The Wuhan Open became Kartal's third tournament after a six-month break. In the quarter-finals, she will play Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina, who has reached the semi-finals of Grand Slam tournaments four times.