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Sonay Kartal put together the best performance of her burgeoning career to outlast the world No 5 Mirra Andreeva across three gruelling sets, winning 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 after two hours and 25 minutes to reach her first WTA 1000 quarter-final at the China Open.
The victory in Beijing marks Kartal’s first defeat of a top 10 opponent, a statement result as she rises up the rankings. Standing at just 5ft 4in (163cm) in a sport dominated by strong, imposing athletes, one of the most common questions surrounding Kartal’s career has been whether her game is too underpowered to trouble the elite. The Briton’s efforts on Wednesday provided a convincing answer to those questions.
There have been signs throughout this week that Kartal was capable of such a result. She reached the fourth round in blistering form, rolling through her first three matches in Beijing without even coming close to dropping a set in a run that included a 6-3, 6-0 demolition of the WTA No 20, Daria Kasatkina.
From the beginning, Kartal made life difficult for Andreeva, using her consistency, movement and discipline to drag the Russian into lengthy, gruelling exchanges and forcing Andreeva to earn every point. But Kartal was also bold with her heavy topspin forehand, opening up the court and constantly looking for opportunities to attack. She showed the full array of her game throughout the tussle, winning key points with drop shots and deft volleys while using her backhand slice well.
Having put herself in contention for a notable upset, she remained composed in the decisive moments, recovering impressively after a tough second set to close out the win. Kartal will next face the 26th seed Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic in the quarter-final.
Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner continued to piece together one of the greatest seasons of his career as he clinched his 21st career title at the China Open with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 victory over Learner Tien.
Sinner’s victory marks his third title of 2025 after winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year. The Italian’s record now stands at 42-5 (89%) this year and he has reached the final in seven of eight tournaments, including all four slams.
Only Carlos Alcaraz has come close to Sinner on hard courts, with Sinner winning 79 of his last 80 matches on the surface against players besides the ATP No 1. Other than Alcaraz’s four hard court wins over Sinner during this period, Sinner’s loss to Andrey Rublev at the Canada Masters last year remains his only defeat on his favourite surface since November 2023.
Despite the pair competing in different countries against different fields of opponents, this week has further underlined how superior Sinner and Alcaraz are to the rest of the tour. A day earlier, Alcaraz defeated Taylor Fritz to win his eighth title of the season in Tokyo.
In the aftermath of his US Open defeat in New York, which led to the Italian losing the No 1 ranking he had held since June 2024, Sinner said he intended to make himself more unpredictable in his matches against his rivaleven though trying to make those changes could lead to more losses early on.
The 24-year-old has shown some of those adjustments throughout this week, particularly by implementing more drop shots. Although he was not as dominant as in many of his other recent tournament runs, dropping sets to Terence Atmane and Alex de Minaur, Sinner still overpowered all opponents in his path.
There is no rest for most of the best players in a gruelling season. The ATP Tour moves on to the Shanghai Masters, the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 event, where Sinner will has a first-round bye. Alcaraz, however, will not be present in China after withdrawing shortly after his win in Tokyo in order to manage an ankle injury.
Meanwhile, Gaël Monfils has announced that he will retire after the 2026 season. Monfils, who became the oldest ATP champion in history in January and turned 39 last month, has enjoyed a celebrated 21-year career as one of the most charismatic players in the sport. The Frenchman reached a career-high ranking of No 6 in 2016 and has won 13 titles.
