Sonay Kartal made a successful return to the WTA Tour following a six-month injury absence as she defeated Spain’s Andrea Lazaro Garcia in straight sets at the China Open.
Kartal’s long absence has been due to a back injury she sustained at Indian Wells back in March and she made her tennis return in the Billie Jean King Cup last week following her recovery.
The China Open is her first tournament back on the tour and she impressed with a 6-2 6-3 victory against the qualifier. Kartal landed 69% of her first serves and broke Garcia’s serve five times across the two sets in a display which will build confidence ahead of her next match against China’s Wang Xinyu.
Fellow Brit Katie Boulter also made a winning start in the Chinese capital, beating Japanese qualifier Mai Hontama 6-3 6-4 with Harriet Dart scheduled to play later today.
Sonay Kartal made a winning return to the WTA Tour at the China Open (Reuters)
But, in the men’s draw British number one Arthur Fery has been bundled out of the Japan Open in the first round with a shock 4-6 6-3 4-6 loss to Portugal’s Jaime Faria.
Fery was originally scheduled to open the tournament against Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti, but the world number 25 was a late withdrawal from the tournament due to a finger injury.
He was replaced by world number 68 Faria, who took a surprise early lead in Tokyo before Fery was able to settle and force a deciding third set.
However he was unable to break Faria’s serve in the final set as the Portuguese wrapped up the win in just over two hours.
British No.2 Cameron Norrie is also in action on Thursday for a round of 32 clash against Alexander Zverev. The German is the number one seed for the tournament following his most successful season on the tour which has seen him claim major titles at the French and US Opens and reach the final at Wimbledon.
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