It has been a difficult year for Kartal. After reaching the fourth round of Indian Wells in March, she sustained a back stress fracture and spent the next six months in rehabilitation, missing three of the four grand slams, including Wimbledon.
During that time, her ranking has slipped from world No 54 to 129. She was able to return to the WTA Tour at the Beijing Open earlier this month, after featuring for Great Britain at the Billie Jean King Cup in September. To enter the 1000 event in Wuhan, Kartal used a protected ranking offered to players who are absent for more than six months. Otherwise, she would have had to go through qualifying.
“I was ready to get back at the end of August… but I didn’t rush myself,” Kartal said.
“I’m 24 and I’ve still got a lot of tennis years left in me, so I sought advice from a lot of other players who had had lengthy injuries and I had a great physio and I trusted in her and in the team that when I got back I would get back to the level that I know I can produce.”
It was during the Asian swing last year that Kartal recorded the biggest win of her career by ranking when she beat 2026 French Open champion Mirra Andreeva in a thrilling three-set battle. With her ice-cold temperament, she is no different a year later, with the win against Bencic now sitting second on that list in terms of victories by rankings.
The signs Kartal is back to her best
The way she dismantled two top players in successive rounds showed just how far Kartal, 24, has come in her young career.
Unlike other injuries, a back stress fracture does not have the same defined timeline for recovery, nor is it possible to scan the back at regular intervals to determine what progress has been made.
The only signs of any lingering issues were a compression sleeve on her right arm as she delivered heavy top-spin shots, which forced Paolini, the world No 33, into making errors, although the Italian was far below the level she had shown in previous rounds.