Sonay Kartal beats Kalinina in Wuhan as injury comeback gathers pace

Sonay Kartal reached the second round of the Wuhan Open with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina, continuing her return from a lengthy injury absence. BBC Sport reported that the British number five completed the win in one hour and 31 minutes and will next play Swiss ninth seed Belinda Bencic.

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The result gave Kartal, ranked 170th in the world, a straight-sets win against the world number 48. She hit four aces and took 23 of the 30 points played behind her first serve. Kalinina saved two match points before Kartal converted her third opportunity to secure a place in the last 32.

Kartal's recent results follow six months away from WTA tournament competition because of a stress fracture in her back. The 24-year-old reached the third round at the Beijing Open earlier this month in her first WTA event since that absence. Wuhan has now brought another main-draw victory as she continues to rebuild her results after the lay-off.

Her return to competitive action came before Beijing, when she represented Great Britain at the Billie Jean King Cup team event last month. There, Kartal narrowly lost to the Czech Republic's Marie Bouzkova, who was ranked 26th in the world. That team appearance preceded the run of tour matches she has since put together in China.

In Beijing, Kartal beat Spain's Andrea Lazaro Garcia and Wang Xinyu before losing to Armenia's Alina Charaeva. The victory over Kalinina adds to those two wins, with Bencic now her next opponent in Wuhan. Her progress comes after the back injury left her outside the world's top 100, with BBC Sport noting her fall to 170th in the rankings.

Elsewhere at the tournament, Zheng Qinwen withdrew from her home event after becoming the first Chinese player to win the China Open. According to BBC Sport, Zheng said in a statement that fatigue following an intense sequence of matches was behind her decision. She underwent elbow surgery last year and had experienced form and fitness difficulties over the past 12 months before her recent title-winning run in Beijing.