Sonay Kartal’s brilliant run of form continued as she knocked out two-time grand slam finalist Jasmine Paolini to reach the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open for the first time.
24-year-old Kartal missed six months of this season and three of the four grand slams after suffering a stress fracture in her back, but has returned in fine style for the Asian hard-court swing.
She dropped just two games in a rampant 6-2 6-0 victory over Italian 15th seed Paolini, who produced an error-strewn display. The former French Open and Wimbledon singles finalist lost the last 11 games in a row.
This was a second successive victory over a seeded player for Kartal, the world No 170, who defeated Swiss ninth seed Belinda Bencic in straight sets in the second round, having dispatched more top-50 opposition in Anhelina Kalinina in the first round.
Kartal has slipped down the rankings as a result of her absence from the tour but is now poised for a return to the top 100, while she also equalled her previous best performance at a WTA 1000 tournament - the level below grand slams - having previously made the quarter-finals at the China Open in Beijing last season.
She said afterwards: “From my side it was a pretty flawless performance so I’m very happy with that one.”
She will next face fifth seed Elina Svitolina.
Surprise French Open runner-up Maja Chwalinska is also through to the quarter-finals after a 6-4 6-1 win over 10th seed Iva Jovic while Diana Shnaider defeated sixth seed and Wimbledon finalist Karolina Muchova 7-5 6-3.
Additional reporting by PA
