Maja Chwalinska clinched the biggest title of her career at the Wuhan Open after battling from a set and a break down to oust Britain’s Sonay Kartal in a three-set marathon.
The world No.22 was on her back foot early on before fighting back to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, after two hours and 46 minutes on the court. Chwalinska, who was playing in the main draw of a WTA 1000 event for the fourth time in her career, turned the match around in the second set by breaking Kartal in three out of her four service games before breaking two times more in the decider. In the roller-coaster encounter, she hit 23 winners and committed 27 unforced errors, winning 56% of her first-serve points.
Chwalinska’s triumph is only her 18th main win at Tour-level this season, with 12 of those being on a hard court. To put this in perspective, before this year she had recorded only four such wins in her entire career. Wuhan is the first WTA event above 250 level that she has won.
“Congrats to Sonay for a great week,” the new champion said to Kartal during the trophy ceremony.
“You are such an impressive player. I had a chance to watch a few of your matches and I was very impressed. I’m sure the great things are ahead of you.”
As a result of her Wuhan triumph, Chwalinska will make her top 20 debut next week at 11th in the world. This time last year, she was ranked 126th. Her surge up the rankings in 2026 was heavily aided by her fairytale run to the French Open final, where Mirra Andreeva beat her.
Chwalinska’s title run saw her beat two seeded players earlier in the tournament, Iva Jovic and Iga Swiatek. She also beat Maria Sakkari, Marie Bouzkova and Mayar Sherif.
“I would like to thank my team. My two coaches and my physio for being with me this week, but every week basically,”she said.
“A few people are definitely watching at home. They know who they are and I’m very grateful for every person in my life.”
As for runner-up Kartal, she exits the event with a significant confidence boost. Wuhan was the second tournament she had played following a six-month injury break due to a stress fracture in her back. Before falling short in the final, the world No.170 scored high-profile wins over Belinda Bencic, Jasmine Paolini, Elina Svitolina and Jelena Ostapenko.
“That was one heck of a battle. Congratulations to you and your team. You’ve had an incredible year. I wish you all the best for the rest of the season,” Kartal said to her opponent.
“It’s my first time here (at the Wuhan Open) and as a tournament this is unbelievable. I’ve absolutely loved my time here. It’s an incredible event and I can’t wait to be back next year. Hopefully I can be in many more of these finals.” She added.
Elaborating further, the Brit paid tribute to her team and their support during her injury recovery.
“Those three in my box are the reason why I’m here, I’m healthy, and I’m back to fitness,” she said.
“We’ve had an unbelievable week. I think not many people expected me to be here, and to bring the level that we did.”
Chwalinska is the third Polish player to win a WTA 1000 event after Swiatek and Agnieszka Radwanska.
