Britain's Sonay Kartal enjoyed the best week of her career so far as she surprisingly made the final at the Wuhan Open; Kartal only recently returned from injury, so what is her potential and can she kick on? Watch the Japan Open all this week, live on Sky Sports Tennis
Sports Journalist @NigelCJourno
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sonay Kartal is the new British No 1 after her remarkable run to the Wuhan Open final where she was narrowly beaten by Poland's Maja Chwalinska in three sets.
Kartal became just the second Briton, after Johanna Konta, to play in a WTA 1000 final with superb wins over Tokyo Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini, world No 6 Elina Svitolina and former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
It is arguably the most impressive tournament performance from a British female player since Emma Raducanu won the 2021 US Open, particularly given Kartal only returned to action last month following six months out due to a stress fracture in her back.
"We have had an unbelievable week. Not many people expected me to be here and bring these levels," said the 24-year-old after losing 2-6 6-4 6-2 to this year's French Open runner-up Chwalinska.
"I hope I can be in many more of these finals. It was not the result I wanted today but those people in my box are the reason I am healthy, I am here and why I am back to fitness."
Kartal has slowly climbed up the WTA rankings over the last five years but emerged onto the public stage with runs to the third and fourth round at Wimbledon in 2024 and 2025.
She became known for her variety, athleticism and aggressive forehand from awkward angles - strengths that helped her last week in Wuhan.
Kartal's stress fracture in her back saw her retire from the fourth round of Indian Wells in March against Elena Rybakina and led to her longest period out of tennis.
The long spell on the sidelines means Kartal can use her protected ranking - a provision that allows players to use the ranking they had at the time of their injury, if they have been out for at least six months, to enter tournaments over the next 12 months.
"The rehab was tough. I think the main priority was to just get back on court and maybe I didn't do the big heavy lifting, which now I can do," said Kartal.
"I wanted to use these weeks to see where I'm at physically and what I need to improve and to see if I'm feeling how I was on the court from in March. The remainder of this year I'm going to work on those things and I'm excited to start next year already."
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
We have been here before with British tennis players - Katie Boulter won a WTA 500 event in 2024, Raducanu memorably won the 2021 US Open as a teenager, and reached the final at Queen's Club this summer before a stress fracture in her right leg forced her to miss Wimbledon, the US Open and likely the remainder of this season.
