Wuhan Open 2026: Sonay Kartal through to face ninth seed Belinda Bencic in second round
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Britain’s Sonay Kartal booked her place in the second round of the Wuhan Open WTA 1000 after knocking out Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina.
Kartal came back from a double breakdown in the first set to beat the world No.48 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 32 minutes.
The British star now moves on to play former Olympic gold medallist and ninth seed Belinda Bencic in the second round.
Kartal had been scheduled to play Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova before the Czech star withdrew from the tournament on Sunday with a calf injury.
This will be a first meeting between Kartal and Bencic as the British star aims to reach the third round in back-to-back WTA 1000 events following six months out due to injury.
Kalinina made the brighter start to their first round clash in Wuhan – breaking the 24-year-old Brit on her opening service game and then extending her lead to 5-2.
The Ukrainian had two opportunities to serve for the first set, but Kartal dug deep to overturn the double break and reeled off five games in a row to steal the opener.
Kartal was more solid on serve in the second set, dropping just four points behind her first serve, while Kalinina managed just 4/15 points on her own.
The Brit broke at the third time of asking for a 4-2 lead before serving out the victory on her third match point.
British No.1 Katie Boulter is in action tomorrow against 11th seed Diana Shnaider.
