Chwalinska comes from behind to beat Kartal for first WTA title at Wuhan Open

Maja Chwalinska's first tour-level title came the hard way. The Polish 16th seed trailed Britain's Sonay Kartal by a set and a break in the Wuhan Open final on 18 October before winning 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 after two hours and 43 minutes.

She becomes only the fourth player to win her first tour title at a WTA 1000 event, after Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu at Indian Wells and Victoria Mboko in Montreal.

How the final turned

Kartal controlled the first set from the baseline, breaking three times in 45 minutes. She led early in the second set too, but Chwalinska began extending the rallies and mixing pace, the approach that had beaten her compatriot Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals. Kartal saved 10 of 13 break points in the set yet still lost it after 71 minutes, and Chwalinska broke twice in the decider, taking the title on her third championship point.

Chwalinska, 25, said the win still felt unreal and that she was proudest of fighting for every ball.

A season of two halves

She began 2026 ranked 146th and reached the French Open final as a qualifier in June, then went through what she called tough moments afterwards. The Wuhan title lifts her to a career-high No. 11 and into the top 20 for the first time.

Kartal was playing only her second event back after six months out with a spinal stress fracture. Ranked 170th when she arrived in Wuhan, the WTA 1000 final, the first of her career, returns her to the top 50.

The doubles title went to Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani.

Sources

• The Hindu

• Wikipedia: 2026 Wuhan Open

• Miami Herald

• Photo: Nuță Lucian from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)