Maja Chwalinska has written the finest page of her career in Wuhan. In the semifinal the Pole beat fellow Polish player Iga Swiatek 7-5 6-1 and booked her first WTA 1000 final. In the last act of the Wuhan Open she will face Britain's Sonay Kartal, another finalist few had seen coming.
It was their first meeting: the site's head-to-head reads 1-0 to Chwalinska, and for now it is also the only one. On paper the odds favoured Swiatek, world No. 9 against No. 22 Chwalinska, with a 2025 record of 56 wins and 14 losses against 1-2. On court, though, the player with less to lose came out on top.
The first set was the tightest. Swiatek stayed level until 5-5, then Chwalinska moved ahead and closed it 7-5. From there the match changed shape: the second set went by 6-1, and Swiatek never managed to reopen the contest.
Chwalinska's run in Wuhan was anything but a stroll. She started with Mayar Sherif, beaten 6-3 6-2, then had to come back against Marie Bouzkova: 1-6 6-1 6-1 after a first set to forget. In the round of 16 she stopped Iva Jovic 6-4 6-1, and in the quarterfinals she got past Maria Sakkari 6-0 3-6 7-5, dropping a set but finding her form in the decider.
Swiatek had also arrived here at a favourite's pace. First Magdalena Frech 6-2 6-1, then Ashlyn Krueger 6-1 6-4 in the round of 16 and Ann Li 6-4 6-1 in the quarterfinals: no sets dropped before the semifinal. That is why the 7-5 6-1 weighs even more, because it ended a run that looked headed for the final.
Points matter too. With the semifinal Swiatek collects 390 points, against the 215 she earned last year with a quarterfinal, and in the live rankings she gains 175 points. Chwalinska, meanwhile, already has the 650 points reserved for the runner-up in her pocket, whatever happens on Sunday.
The WTA lines up the historical angle: Chwalinska is only the second player since 1990 to reach her first two tour-level finals at a Grand Slam and at a Tier I or WTA 1000 event. The other was Amélie Mauresmo, between 1998 and 1999. Not bad company.
Across the net will be Sonay Kartal, whom the WTA lists at No. 170 in the rankings. The Briton returned to court after a six-month layoff that began after Indian Wells, and since then she has a record of 7 wins and one loss in tour-level matches. Her draw, looking back, has the flavour of a small miracle.
Here are her results: Anhelina Kalinina 7-5 6-3, Belinda Bencic 6-0 7-5, Jasmine Paolini 6-2 6-0 in the round of 16, Elina Svitolina 2-6 6-2 6-4 in the quarterfinals and finally Jelena Ostapenko, beaten in the semifinal 7-6(9) 7-6(5) with two tie-breaks won on a knife-edge. According to the WTA, every opponent she beat in Wuhan is in the top 50.
Kartal also carries a couple of records. She is the lowest-ranked player to reach a Tier I or WTA 1000 final since 1990 and the second Briton in this category after Johanna Konta. Her only title so far came in 2024 at the WTA 250 in Monastir, Tunisia.
The tournament, meanwhile, has produced roller-coaster numbers. The draw featured 56 players from 31 nations; before the final, 54 matches had been played, with 19 tie-breaks, 21 matches decided in a third set and two retirements. The longest match remains Katie Volynets-Kimberly Birrell, 6-7(1) 7-6(3) 6-3 in 35 games.
The list of past champions tells of an event that usually rewards the big names: in 2025 Coco Gauff won against Jessica Pegula 6-4 7-5, in 2024 Aryna Sabalenka against Qinwen Zheng 6-3 5-7 6-3. This year, instead, neither finalist has ever lifted a trophy of this category, and Poland and Great Britain are the only nations with a player still in the draw.
What is at stake is not only sporting. The winner receives 1,000 points and $665,000, the runner-up 650 points and $385,001. If Chwalinska wins, according to the WTA she would be the fourth player since 2009 to win her first title at a WTA 1000, after Naomi Osaka, Bianca Andreescu and Victoria Mboko.
As for the rankings, the WTA calculates that Chwalinska will climb to around the top 15 and Kartal to around the top 50, however the final goes. Good news for both, whatever happens with the trophy.
The singles final is scheduled for not before 6:30 p.m. local time, after the doubles final. It will be a contrast of styles and stories: the left-hander who has just beaten a Grand Slam champion and the player back after months out. Whoever wins on Sunday evening will have taught a lesson to those who only look at the rankings.
For Swiatek it remains a tournament to file away: semifinal, 390 points and the certainty that even on off days her level stays high, as her 56 wins in 2025 show. For Chwalinska and Kartal, instead, another season begins in Wuhan.
Test yourself
3 questions on what you have just read.
1. What was the score of the Chwalinska-Swiatek semifinal?
2. Who does Chwalinska face in the Wuhan final?
3. How many points go to the runner-up?