World number 81 Sonay Kartal beat Mirra Andreeva 7-5 2-6 7-5 in 2 hours and 25 minutes in the fourth round to reach her first WTA 1000 quarter final on her China Open debut. Kartal clinched the first top 10 win of her career becoming the first British player to reach the quarter final since Johanna Konta in 2016.
Kartal had already reached the Round of 16 at Indian Wells and Wimbledon, but she has reached her first quarter final since winning her first title in Monastir last September.
Kartal lost three first round matches during the North American hard-court season last season, but she ended this losing streak at the Billie Jean King Cup two weeks ago and beat Daria Kasatkina and Maya Joint in Beijing.
Kartal saved two break points in the third game of the first set. Both players went on serve with no break points until the final game, when Kartal earned a break, when Andreeva made a double fault and consecutive forehand errors.
Andreeva earned an immediate break and held on her service games. The 18-year-old player went up a double break in the seventh game and served out the set with the best point of the match with a drop-shot, a lob and an angles pass.
Both players went on serve with no breaks of serve and only one break point. Kartal saved a break point with a backhand winner down the line to hold serve for 6-5. Andreeva fended off a first match point after an exchange in which Kartal hit her lob long. Kartal earned a second match point with a forehand long and converted it as Andreeva sent a forehand wide.
Kartal set up a quarter final match against Linda Noskova, who moved past Anastasia Potapova 6-2 6-4 in 1 hour and 27 minutes.
Noskova won her only previous head-to-head match against Kartal 6-4 6-2 in the second round in Rome last May. Both Noskova and Kartal will aim to reach their first semifinal at WTA 1000 level. Noskova reached the quarter final at the 2024 Australian Open and in Dubai in 2025. “The way I carry myself on the court is one of my biggest assets. You can look down the other end of the court and you won’t really know if I’m winning or losing. I just tried to put that second set behind me — she played some great tennis. I just tried to level it out in the third set and keep the scoreboard pressure as far as I could”, said Kartal.
