Wuhan Open 2026: Sonay Kartal defeats Jasmine Paolini to reach quarter-final
• 3 minute read
Sonay Kartal produced another dominant display in Wuhan after knocking out 15th seed Jasmine Paolini in straight sets.
Kartal defeated the former Roland Garros and Wimbledon runner-up Paolini 6-2, 6-0 in one hour and four minutes.
The win now leads the Brit to her second-career WTA 1000 quarter-final, following her run to the final eight at the China Open last year.
There, she beat the likes of Daria Kasatkina, Maya Joint and fourth seed Mirra Andreeva before falling short to Czech’s Linda Noskova.
Speaking on her victory over Paolini, Kartal said, "Against someone as good as Jasmine is, I knew from the start and every point that I was going to have to be solid and not let up the concentration.
"From my side, it was a pretty flawless performance so I'm pretty happy to get through that one."
Awaiting Kartal in the quarter-finals is former world No.3 Svitolina, who has enjoyed another strong season and remains one of the most consistent performers on the WTA Tour. Kartal will look to cause another upset as she targets a career-first WTA 1000 semi-final.
They will contest their quarter-final match on Friday 16 October, with the time still to be confirmed.
Both Kartal and Paolini have dealt with injury this year, and had reached the third round in Wuhan without dropping a set.
The Italian made a strong start to the third round battle, converting her second break point opportunity in the third game to take an early lead over the Brit.
However, Kartal – who this week slipped to world No.170 in the WTA rankings – responded immediately, recovering the deficit before closing out a run of five games to take the opening set in 35 minutes.
Fired up with confidence, Kartal raised her level even higher heading into the second set. While the British No.5 was solid on serve, she was even more impressive on the return, winning 70% of points (28/40) behind Paolini's delivery and repeatedly putting the Italian under pressure on serve.
Paolini was unable to rein in the unforced errors, racking up 24 across the encounter, while Kartal continued to dictate from the baseline and capitalising on her chance to storm into a commanding lead.
Three more breaks of serve followed as the Brit sealed a bagel for the second time in as many matches after Paolini returned a deep forehand into the net to hand Kartal victory on her first match point.
How to watch Sonay Kartal at the Wuhan Open
You can watch Kartal’s quarter-final match against Elina Svitolina at the Wuhan Open live and exclusively on Sky Sports Tennis and NOW.
