Sonay Kartal stuns world number six Elina Svitolina to reach Wuhan Open semi-finals

The British player, who spent six months on the sidelines with a back injury, battled to a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over the Ukrainian in Friday's quarter-final, securing one of the biggest wins of her career.

Kartal, 24, had seen her ranking drop from No 54 to No 170 during her absence but has quickly regained momentum since returning to competition last month.

After winning two matches at the China Open in Beijing, she has continued her resurgence in Wuhan, defeating ninth seed Belinda Bencic and former Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini before overcoming Svitolina.

The victory also marked Kartal's first win in three meetings with the Ukrainian and earned her a maiden appearance in the last four of a WTA 1000 tournament.

Kartal made a confident start, breaking Svitolina twice to take the opening set in 33 minutes. Svitolina responded in the second, however, levelling the match after receiving treatment on her right arm during a medical timeout.

Neither player managed to create a break-point opportunity during the opening nine games of the deciding set, with Kartal holding her nerve as the contest approached its conclusion.

Serving at 5-4 down, Svitolina surrendered the decisive break when she missed a forehand wide. Kartal then applied pressure with a strong return, prompting another error from her opponent to seal the win after two hours and three minutes.

Kartal will face Jelena Ostapenko in the semi-finals. Ostapenko booked her place in the last four with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over number 11 seed Diana Shnaider earlier in the day. 

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