WUHAN: Polish 16th seed Maja Chwalinska overcame an injured Iga Swiatek to reach the first WTA 1000 final of her career, handing her childhood friend and compatriot a 7-5, 6-1 defeat at the Wuhan Open on Saturday.
Chwalinska will next face world number 170 Sonay Kartal, who became the lowest-ranked player to reach a WTA 1000 final with a gritty 7-6 (11/9), 7-6 (7-5) win over Jelena Ostapenko.
Swiatek, who needed to win the title in Wuhan to increase her slim chances of qualifying for the year-end WTA Finals, battled a left thigh injury during the match, which limited her movement against her crafty left-handed opponent.
Meanwhile, Chwalinska did well to manage the mental challenges of the occasion as she hit yet another new milestone in a breakthrough season that saw her make a surprise run to the French Open final, as a qualifier, back in June.
"Obviously Iga wasn't 100 percent today, so I wish her all the best, of course," said the 25-year-old Pole, who is contesting just her fourth WTA 1000 main draw.
"It's always tough to play against a fellow Polish player. She's a great champion, a living legend, she won everything. So it was a great honour for me to share the court with her today.
"I think I still don't really realise what's going on and the fact that I won against her is actually crazy for me."
The momentum swung back and forth in the opening frame before Swiatek attempted to serve for a one-set lead at 5-3.
The seventh seed could not close though, despite holding two set points, and soon found herself trailing Chwalinska 5-6.
Ahead of game 12, Swiatek took a medical timeout and was in pain and in tears while getting her left thigh attended to.
Chwalinska then warded off break points to scoop up the 80-minute first set.
In a bizarre opening game of the second set, a tearful Swiatek had an animated discussion with her strength and conditioning coach Maciej Ryszczuk on the sidelines, while facing two break points.
She was handed a time violation warning as a result and went on to drop a fifth consecutive game.
The six-time Grand Slam champion could not do much else to stop Chwalinska, who wrapped up the victory in two hours and eight minutes to set up a final showdown with Kartal.
Kartal, 24, is playing just her second tour event since returning from a six-month injury layoff, having suffered a spinal stress fracture that sidelined her from March to September.
- 'Very proud' -
In a close affair with 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko, Kartal showed tremendous composure and dug herself out of multiple holes to become the first British finalist in Wuhan Open history.
"Wow, that was probably one of the toughest matches I've ever played," said the Briton, who survived 50 winners coming off Ostapenko's racquet to reach the biggest final of her career.
"I knew exactly how she was going to play. At times she's unplayable and sometimes you just have to ride that wave.
"Mentally I think this is one of the best performances I've had in my career. I'm very proud of that one."
After dismissing three consecutive seeds in her previous rounds, including No.6 Elina Svitolina and No.9 Belinda Bencic, Kartal made the 35th-ranked Ostapenko her latest victim to reach her second career tour-level final, and first at the WTA 1000 level. - AFP
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