Maja Chwalińska won the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan on Sunday, October 18. In the final she defeated Briton Sonay Kartal 2:6, 6:4, 6:2, her first title in the main WTA tour.
The title match began on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Polish time on the Center Court. Chwalińska, seeded 16th, faced unseeded Kartal, who is ranked 170th in the WTA rankings. Both players were appearing in a final at a tournament of this level for the first time in their careers, and they had not previously met on the main tour.
Recovering from a deficit in the final
The Briton started strongly. As Interia Sport reports, Kartal broke the Pole at the first opportunity and went up 2:0. She won the first set 6:2, converting her third set point after a run that included a double fault by Chwalińska.
In the second set Chwalińska recovered the break, and in the decisive games she gained the advantage and won 6:4. In the third set she broke her opponent several times. According to Interia, she was already leading 5:2, and the match ended with a 6:2 result in that set.
Road to the final
In the semifinal Chwalińska beat Iga Świątek 7:5, 6:1. According to “Super Express”, Świątek finished the match with a thigh injury. Earlier, as we reported, the Pole reached the semifinal after a three-set battle with Sakkari in the quarterfinal. In the semifinal, Kartal eliminated Jelena Ostapenko 7:6, 7:6.
Before the final, Kartal was the only one of the two with a WTA tour title, which she won in Monastir in 2024, as Polsat News reports. Chwalińska had never before won a tournament of this level. In June she lost the French Open final to Mirra Andreeva, as we wrote after she became the runner-up at Roland Garros.
Ranking and prize money
According to Polsat News and Interia, in Monday’s ranking Chwalińska will rise to 11th place in the WTA rankings. The Wuhan Open winner receives 1000 ranking points and a check for $665 thousand, as WP SportoweFakty reported before the final. The finalist receives 650 points and $385 thousand.
The Wuhan tournament has been held since 2014. Polsat News recalls that previous winners include Aryna Sabalenka (three times), Petra Kvitová (twice), Venus Williams, Coco Gauff and Caroline Garcia, among others. According to Interia, this was the last WTA 1000 tournament of the 2026 season.
What it means
For Polish tennis fans, this means that alongside Iga Świątek, a second Polish player will be in the top twelve of the WTA rankings. Monday’s WTA ranking will show Chwalińska’s final position after the Wuhan tournament.
Komentarze