Sonay Kartal’s strong comeback from a lengthy injury absence continued as she defeated fifth seed Elina Svitolina 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in the Wuhan Open quarter-finals.
The 24-year-old Briton, who was sidelined for more than six months by a stress fracture in her back, has now won six of her eight matches since returning to competition. Against Svitolina, Kartal took the first set comfortably, lost the second, and then secured the deciding set to seal the win.
It was another notable result for Kartal, who had already beaten Italy’s 15th seed Jasmine Paolini and Switzerland’s ninth seed Belinda Bencic in earlier rounds.
She will next face 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced by defeating 11th seed Diana Shnaider 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 after a close opening set. The semi-final, Kartal’s first at a WTA 1000 event, is set for Saturday.
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