Sonay Kartal beats Jelena Ostapenko in two tiebreaks to reach her first WTA 1000 final in Wuhan

Sonay Kartal's comeback keeps getting better.

The 24-year-old from Britain beat Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 (9), 7-6 (5) in Saturday's semifinals of the Wuhan Open to reach the first WTA 1000 final of her career. She will face Poland's Maja Chwalinska for the title on Sunday. Chwalinska, the 16th seed, upset seventh-seeded Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 in the other semifinal.

Back from six months out

Kartal missed six months with a back injury that dropped her ranking from No. 54 to No. 170. She returned only last month. Wuhan is her first appearance at the event.

On the way to the final she beat Anhelina Kalinina, ninth seed Belinda Bencic, 15th seed Jasmine Paolini and world No. 6 Elina Svitolina before outlasting Ostapenko in two tight tiebreaks.

"I definitely did not think that I would find this level this fast," Kartal said this week. "I think it's a bit of a surprise to me."

A British milestone

Kartal is only the second British woman to reach a final at a WTA 1000 event. Johanna Konta was the first. It is the second tour-level final of Kartal's career.

"I think now that I'm back, I'm just going to try and maintain this level and try and find my ceiling and see where I can get to in the next year or so," she said.