Kartal wins again as impressive comeback continues

Britain's Sonay Kartal continued her impressive comeback from long-term injury with a comfortable win over former Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini to reach the Wuhan Open quarter-finals.

Kartal, 24, missed more than six months with a stress fracture in her back, but has won five of her seven matches since returning to action.

The former world number 44 ruthlessly brushed aside Italian 15th seed Paolini 6-2 6-0 with a performance that further validated Kartal's patient approach to recovering from the first serious injury of her career.

It was another statement performance from Kartal following her straight-set win over ninth seed Belinda Bencic in the previous round.

"Against someone as good as Jasmine is, I knew I had to be solid from the start and not let up," Kartal said.

"From my side, it was a pretty flawless performance."

Kartal was riding the crest of a wave in the early part of the season, having broken into the world's top 50, reached two WTA quarter-finals and recorded wins over top-class opponents.

Victories over 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys and former world number eight Emma Navarro in Indian Wells led to a meeting with now world number one Elena Rybakina in the fourth round.

However, Kartal was forced to retire with a back injury that proved more serious than first thought.

After initially hoping she would make a quick recovery, Kartal was left unable to brush her teeth without "being in agony", leading to some difficult decisions.

Missing Wimbledon was a particularly tough choice, especially given she reached the fourth round of her home Grand Slam in 2025, but resigning herself to not rushing a comeback has proved wise.

Her first match back a little over three weeks ago - representing Great Britain at the BJK Cup - ended in a narrow defeat, before she won two matches to reach the Beijing third round in her WTA Tour return.

"At the BJK Cup, the level I produced was much higher than I thought and I left super happy," Kartal said.

"Now I'm growing in confidence with every match I'm playing."

Using a protected injury ranking to play, Kartal carried that momentum into Wuhan.

She has not dropped a set in victories over Ukrainian world number 48 Anhelina Kalinina, 2020 Olympic champion Bencic and two-time major singles finalist Paolini.

Kartal maintained a high level from the baseline as Paolini unravelled with a series of unforced errors, securing a meeting with Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev continued to show why he is the best men's player in the world this season with a dominant 6-4 6-4 win over Australia's world number nine Alex de Minaur in the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals.

Zverev, now assured of finishing the season as the year-end ATP number one, will face Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the semi-finals.