Kartal takes top-50 scalp with Wuhan win

Britain's Sonay Kartal continues her impressive form since returning from injury by beating Anhelina Kalinina in straight sets to reach the second round of the Wuhan Open.

Sonay Kartal has slipped to 170th in the world rankings after her back injury

The British number five reached the third round at the Beijing Open earlier this month in her first WTA tournament for six months, having been sidelined with a stress fracture in her back.

The 24-year-old followed that up by defeating Ukraine's Kalinina 7-5 6-3 in an hour and 31 minutes.

World number 170 Kartal will face Swiss ninth seed Belinda Bencic in her next match.

Kartal returned to action last month for Great Britain at the Billie Jean King Cup team event, where she narrowly lost to Czech Marie Bouzkova, who sat 26th in the world rankings.

Wins over Spain's Andrea Lazaro Garcia and Wang Xinyu followed for Kartal in Beijing, before she lost to Armenia's Alina Charaeva.

Against world number 48 Kalinina, Kartal served four aces and won 23 of 30 points when landing her first serve.

Source: BBC Sport