Maja Chwalinska upset her compatriot Iga Swiatek to reach her first WTA 1000 final at the Wuhan Open, where she will face Great Britain's Sonay Kartal for the title.

Swiatek started Saturday's semi-final strongly, moving into a 5-3 lead in the opening set and passing up two set points on her own serve.

But the world number one then had to take a medical timeout to address a leg injury, and her movement appeared somewhat restricted from that moment on as Chwalinska took charge.

Chwalinska broke in game 12 to get her nose in front, and though Swiatek had two opportunities to break back immediately, she was unable to take them as the 25-year-old recovered to serve out the set. 

And after Swiatek gave up another break right at the start of the second set, the writing looked to be on the wall. Chwalinska stayed strong on her own serve and managed another pair of back-to-back breaks, sealing a 7-5 6-1 success.

Kartal was also a straight-sets victor, though she had to come through two tie-breaks to beat Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 (11-9) 7-6 (7-5).

Despite Ostapenko hitting 50 winners and breaking on four occasions, Kartal took all four of her opportunities to break during the contest, and 41 unforced errors from the former French Open champion were ultimately her undoing. 

"Wow, that was probably one of the toughest matches I've ever played," Kartal said. "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."

170 - Since the Tier format's introduction in 1990, Sonay Kartal (#170) has become the lowest ranked player to reach a Tier I/WTA-1000 final - Jennifer Capriati reached the final as an unranked player in Hilton Head in 1990. Back! #WuhanOpen | @wuhanopentennis @WTA https://t.co/vbFyvadJjJ

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 17, 2026

Unexpected finalists to face off

Since the inauguration of the Wuhan Open in 2014, two players ranked outside the WTA's top 20 will face off in the competition's final for the very first time.

It will also be the first time that two players will face off in their maiden WTA 1000 final since Dubai last season (Mirra Andreeva and Clara Tauson), and the first time that has occurred in Wuhan since Aryna Sabalenka and Anett Kontaveit in 2018.

Chwalinska is just the second left-handed player to reach the final at the Wuhan Open, after Petra Kvitova won the title twice in 2014 and 2016, beating Eugenie Bouchard and Dominika Cibulkova, respectively, in those championship matches.

And she has had to do it the hard way, having spent more time on the court than any other player at this year's Wuhan Open (nine hours and 50 minutes).

Kartal, meanwhile, is the first British woman to reach the final of this event and just the second to reach any Tier I or WTA 1000 final since the format's 1990 introduction, after Johanna Konta (runner-up at Beijing 2016 and Rome 2019, champion at Miami 2017).