Sonay Kartal becomes the lowest-ranked player to reach a WTA 1000 final at the Wuhan Open

Sonay Kartal celebrates reaching her first WTA 1000 final after beating Jelena Ostapenko in the semifinals on Saturday. | Photo Credit: AP

Sonay Kartal defeats Jelena Ostapenko in an evenly fought match, 7-6 (9), 7-6 (5), at the Wuhan Open semifinals on Saturday and is set to face Maja Chwalinska in the final.

The match was a highly competitive affair, with both players causing the opponent to make unforced errors. However, Kartal’s persistence and composure helped her out of break points as well as saving two set points in the first-set tiebreak.

While in the second set, she fought back from 1-4 down and saved three set points on the way to win the match in straight sets.

“Wow, that was probably one of the toughest matches I’ve ever played,” said Kartal, who survived 50 winners from Ostapenko.

“I knew exactly how she was going to play. At times she’s unplayable, and sometimes you just have to ride that wave. Mentally, I think this is one of the best performances I’ve had in my career. I’m very proud of that one,” said the British No.1.

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With this victory, Kartal (ranked 170) becomes the lowest-ranked player to ever reach a WTA 1000 final. This is only her second tournament after returning from a six-month layoff due to a spinal stress fracture.

Kartal has had an impressive tournament already, having defeated World No. 6 Elina Svitolina and World No. 9 Belinda Bencic in the previous rounds

The 24-year-old has won only one WTA singles title before and will be hoping that she can add to that tally on Sunday.