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Is Sonay Kartal going to cause another gigantic upset here in Wuhan?
It looked unlikely when she went a double-break down to Jelena Ostapenko early on in this semi-final.
But the world No. 170 has mounted an incredible comeback. She twice broke when the Latvian served for the set, saving a set point at 5-6.
Kartal forced a tiebreak, which was a rollercoaster in itself. Four of the first five points went against the server.
Ostapenko hit a double fault to go a mini-break down again and grew frustrated as the Brit started to extend her lead. But a big return helped her to get back on serve.
Kartal ripped a winner to give herself a set point on her own serve, but she couldn’t take it. Ostapenko nailed a ball perfectly on the baseline, and Kartal sent it back long. She had a second set point on the Latvian’s serve, but an Ostapenko winner saved it and levelled the score at 7-7.
The world No. 34 then had a look at her second set point, this time on Kartal’s serve. But she sent the ball long and the rollercoaster continued.
Ostapenko gave herself a third set point with a backhand winner down the line, and then netted the ball to take it to 9-9. Another error from the Latvian’s racket gave Kartal a third set point of her own.
Finally, after 70 minutes, the Brit took the nail-biting opening set 7-6(9) and Ostapenko send the ball wide. She’s a set away from a maiden WTA 1000 final. She’s only just come back from a six-month injury layoff!
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