Only three players had ever won a WTA 1000 title as their maiden tour-level crown. On Sunday in Wuhan, Maja Chwalinska became the fourth.
The 16th-seeded Pole beat Britain’s Sonay Kartal 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 at the Optics Valley International Tennis Centre, a two-hour, 43-minute turnaround that pulled her into the company of Naomi Osaka (Indian Wells 2018), Bianca Andreescu (Indian Wells 2019) and Victoria Mboko (Montreal 2025), the only players ever to make their first WTA title a 1000-level one.
Kartal, ranked No. 170 and back from a six-month injury layoff, looked set to extend the tournament’s run of upsets. She broke to lead 2-0 in the second set and was a few holds from the biggest title of her career.
Chwalinska then converted on her fifth break-point chance of that game to level, held her nerve through the rest of the set, and broke again for 3-2 in the decider before closing out with down-the-line winners.
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“It means a lot. It tastes very sweet, I [must] admit,” Chwalinska told reporters after the match.
“I feel like my energy level was very low at the beginning. What I’m proud of is the fighting spirit.”
A season that already rewrote her career
Chwalinska began the year ranked 140th. Her Wuhan run lifts her from No. 22 to a projected career-high No. 11, and it caps a season in which she had already reached the Roland Garros final as a qualifier in June, the second player to do that in the Open Era after Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. Mirra Andreeva beat her in that final 6-3, 6-2.
The WTA notes she is now the second player ever to reach her first two career finals at both a Grand Slam and a Tier I/WTA 1000 event, following Amelie Mauresmo in 1998-1999.
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A draw blown open before the semifinals
Wuhan was already missing names from the top of the game before the business end. World No. 1 Elena Rybakina withdrew with a left foot injury, and reigning champion Coco Gauff pulled out citing a long season.
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka did play but lost in the second round to American Ann Li, saving nine match points before going down 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
Chwalinska beat compatriot Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 in the first all-Polish last-four meeting in WTA Tour history, her first career win over a top-10 player. Kartal reached the final by saving six set points in a 7-6 (9), 7-6 (5) win over Jelena Ostapenko.
The winner’s cheque in Wuhan was $665,000, with the runner-up earning $385,001 from a prize pool of $4,088,211.
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