Sonay Kartal became the British number one for the first time on Monday, following an extraordinary week at the Wuhan Open in which she reached the biggest final of her career in just her third tournament back from injury.
Six months ago, the 24-year-old Briton could not stand up and brush her teeth without “being in agony” because of a stress fracture in her back. The pain eventually subsided, but she still faced a long road to full recovery that demanded patience and hard work. Kartal did not return to competitive action until a little under a month ago.
“In the first month or so, I was at home in bed – sometimes I had good days but there were also bad days where I wasn’t really able to walk without some form of pain,” Kartal said.
“It was a slow process and it makes you think you do take every day things for granted a bit.”
A major final after a long layoff
Given where Kartal was six months ago, and how long she was out injured, reaching the Wuhan final is a huge achievement. The WTA 1,000 event sits in the tier directly below the Grand Slams and attracts the strongest fields on the women’s tour.
Kartal knocked out a series of opponents with considerable pedigree, including current top-10 players and former Grand Slam champions. She then ran out of steam against this year’s French Open runner-up Maja Chwalinska. Kartal lost the final after leading by a set and a break, a brutal defeat that will undoubtedly sting. She quickly acknowledged, though, that the bigger picture is already more positive than she could have predicted.
Ranking jumps from 170th to 49th
Kartal was ranked 54th in the world when the back problem struck at Indian Wells in March. She used a protected injury ranking, given to players who have been out for six months or more, to compete in Wuhan.
Her 650 points as runner-up sent her ranking soaring from 170th to 49th. She now closes in on her career high of 44th, which she achieved in July 2025 after reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon.
The result shows the WTA’s special ranking rule working as intended: it gives a player a fair platform to re-establish her position after a prolonged and unavoidable absence.
Regaining her ranking just 10 matches into her comeback will have real significance for the 2027 season. Kartal will no longer need a protected ranking to enter tournaments including the Australian Open. That gives her greater choice over when and where to play as she continues to manage her workload.
On Monday, she pulled out of the Japan Open in Osaka, where she was due to play her first-round match on Tuesday.
“My goal on the Asian swing was just to try to defend those points I had from last year and make the use of the protected ranking worthwhile,” said Kartal, who also won two matches at the China Open in Beijing.
“I think I’ve gone above and beyond that. The goal has been achieved this week and I’m in a good spot for the rest of the year and next year.”
A bright spot for British tennis
Kartal’s re-emergence is timely for British tennis. With Kartal absent from three of the four majors, no British woman went past the second round of a Grand Slam tournament in 2026.
Kartal has managed that only twice in her career, reaching the third round at Wimbledon in 2024 and going one stage further last year. In Wuhan, she showed she has the ability to thrive at elite level.
She became the first British player to reach a WTA 1000 final since Johanna Konta in 2019. Despite losing to 22nd-ranked Chwalinska, she still recorded the best result by a British woman since Emma Raducanu won the US Open title in 2021.
Alongside Arthur Fery’s extraordinary run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the summer, it is a much-needed bright spot for the nation’s tennis fans.
Like Fery, Kartal lacks the height and power that many of the leading players on both tours are genetically given. She does have enough damaging tools to help anchor her inside the top 50. In Wuhan, her consistent hitting from the baseline, supreme athleticism and level-headedness were the keys to her success.
Fitness and a trusted team
Staying fit over the coming months will be another important factor. Kartal says the stress fracture in her back has completely healed. Her team say she “worked her socks off, 9-5 all the time” during rehabilitation to ensure she could hit the ground running when she returned.
After collecting the runners-up trophy, Kartal quickly paid tribute to her coach Ben Reeves, fitness coach Ian Aylward and physio Dani Gillanders.
“If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here,” Kartal said.
“It makes it even better that the three people who helped me get back to fitness and fixed my back are with me. It’s been a special week for all of us.”