Chwalińska stuns hurt Świątek to set up Wuhan final with Kartal

The Wuhan Open will crown a first-time WTA 1000 champion on Sunday. Maja Chwalińska won the all-Polish semi-final against an injured Iga Świątek 7-5, 6-1, and will face world No. 170 Sonay Kartal. The Briton beat Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 (9), 7-6 (5) in the other semi-final.

According to the WTA, it is the first final in Wuhan's history, which dates back to 2014, between two players ranked outside the Top 20.

Świątek injury turns the semi-final

For most of the first set, Świątek looked on course for the final. She led 5-3 and had two set points in the ninth game, but Chwalińska saved both. Świątek then called a medical time-out for a leg problem and was not the same player after it. Chwalińska won ten of the next eleven games and wrapped up the match in two hours and eight minutes.

It was the 25-year-old's first win over a Top-10 player. The WTA says she is only the second woman, after Amélie Mauresmo in 1998-99, whose first two tour-level finals have come at a Grand Slam and a WTA 1000 event. Chwalińska reached the Roland Garros final earlier this year. Before 2026 she had won just four tour-level matches. This season she has won 17, eleven of them on hard courts.

The 16th seed came through Mayar Sherif, Marie Bouzková, Iva Jovic and Maria Sakkari before beating Świątek. According to the WTA, she is projected to rise into the Top 15 on Monday. She is also the first left-handed finalist at this level since Petra Kvitová in 2019.

For Świątek, the defeat comes at a bad moment. AP reported that the loss also ends her hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals, where she sits tenth in the race with eight places available.

Kartal survives Ostapenko in two tie-breaks

Kartal's run in Wuhan is even more improbable. The 24-year-old missed more than six months this year with a stress fracture in her back, and Wuhan is only her second tournament since returning. She has gone 7-1 at tour level since her comeback. According to the WTA, she is the lowest-ranked player to reach a WTA 1000-level final since the format began in 1990.

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Against Ostapenko she needed nerve as much as form. The opening tie-break went to 11-9 before Kartal took the second 7-5. "That was probably one of the toughest matches I've ever played. At times she is unplayable," Kartal said of the 2017 French Open champion, according to AP.

The Briton has already beaten Anhelina Kalinina, Belinda Bencic, Jasmine Paolini and Elina Svitolina this week. She is projected to break into the Top 50, and is going for her second career title after winning Monastir in 2024.

What's at stake on Sunday

Chwalińska and Kartal have never played each other. The winner earns 1,000 ranking points and $665,000, while the runner-up takes 650 points and $385,001, according to the WTA. The singles final is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. CEST), after the doubles final.