dailynewsnblog
Britain’s Sonay Kartal upset ninth seed Belinda Bencic as she continued to build post-injury momentum at the Wuhan Open.
Kartal reached a career-high ranking of 44 last year but has slipped to 170th in the world after a six-month injury absence.
Having returned to action for Great Britain at last month’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals, the 24-year-old reached the third round at the Beijing Open last week before beating Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina in her opening match in Wuhan.
An impressive 6-0 7-5 victory over Swiss world number 12 Bencic sets up a match with Italian 15th seed Jasmine Paolini or 20-year-old Czech Nikola Bartunkova for a quarter-final place.
Former world number one Iga Swiatek also progressed, recording her 40th win of the season with a 6-2 6-1 victory over fellow Pole Magdalena Frech.
Kartal suffered a stress fracture in her back in March, which meant she missed three of this year’s four Grand Slams – including Wimbledon.
The Briton, who reached the fourth round at her home Slam last year, was in good form before that enforced break.
That included victories over American top-20 seeds Emma Navarro and Madison Keys at Indian Wells, before she retired against Elena Rybakina in the third round with the back issue.
Kartal has made a positive return, beating Chinese 31st seed Wang Xinyu as she reached the third round in Beijing, and has now won four of her five matches on her return to the WTA Tour.
