Ostapenko falls to Kartal in Wuhan semifinals
Jelena Ostapenko missed set points in both sets as Sonay Kartal won their Wuhan semifinal on tiebreaks.
Jelena Ostapenko lost to Sonay Kartal on a pair of tiebreaks in the Wuhan Open semifinals. Kartal reached her biggest final during her return from a back injury.
Two leads slip away
Jelena Ostapenko was eliminated from the Wuhan Open after Sonay Kartal recovered from 4-1 down in both sets of their semifinal. The score concealed several missed opportunities. Ostapenko held three set points in the opener, but Kartal saved them all to keep the set alive.
The second set brought another three set points for Ostapenko, yet she again finished without converting any of those chances into a set. Kartal advanced in straight sets. For the former French Open champion, the result meant leaving Wuhan after holding leads and set points in each set, rather than losing a match in which she had been behind throughout.
Tiebreaks settle the contest
Both sets finished 7-6 in Kartal's favor, with the opening tiebreak ending 11-9 after Ostapenko had twice served for that set without closing it out. Those chances preceded the tiebreak. Kartal then won the second tiebreak 7-5 to complete her victory and deny Ostapenko a deciding set.
Ostapenko finished with 50 winners and nine aces, substantial totals that still did not earn her a set against an opponent who repeatedly survived set points. The score tells only part of it. Her attacking output and her missed opportunities belonged to the same match, with the latter proving decisive to whether she could extend the semifinal.
A defeat against an unexpected finalist
Ostapenko is ranked No. 34 and has won six of her last ten completed matches, placing this defeat within a recent record that still contains more wins than losses. Kartal's circumstances were different. This was only her third tournament back after a six-month absence because of a back injury.
Her return began with Great Britain at the BJK Cup, followed by victories in Beijing before she reached the biggest final of her career in Wuhan. The progress has been rapid. Ranked 170, Kartal became the lowest-ranked WTA 1,000 finalist since the format began in 1990. The run also ensured she would return to the world's top fifty and become Britain's highest-ranked player at the next rankings update.
Ningbo comes next for Ostapenko
The other Wuhan semifinal saw Maja Chwalinska beat Iga Swiatek, her childhood friend and former doubles partner, while Swiatek was struggling with a leg injury. Chwalinska won 7-5, 6-1. The French Open finalist thereby reached new ground at this tournament level, completing a semifinal round that also ended Ostapenko's run.
Ningbo is next for Ostapenko. Her scheduled opponent there is Belinda Bencic on Tuesday, October 20, giving her a different assignment after the missed opportunities against Kartal in Wuhan. No round is specified for that meeting. Ostapenko heads into it with a semifinal appearance behind her, but without having turned either of her Wuhan set leads into a winning set.
Court Shark win probabilities are statistical estimates, not advice. No outcome is guaranteed.
Methodology and sources
How we build model estimates and where our information comes from.
Sources and citations
Rankings and recent results for the players named come from the Court Shark match database. The story is public tennis news, written up by the desk in its own words.
Limitations
Player figures are a snapshot taken when the story was written and do not update after publication.
About the desk
Who works on the Tennis Desk and how an article is put together. Read about the desk
Editorial standards
What we publish, what we check and how we decide what is fit to print. Read our standards
Corrections
Spotted an error? Write to hello@courtshark.ai and we will correct it and note the change. Read the corrections policy