BEIJING — Britain's Sonay Kartal made a winning return to the WTA Tour after almost six months out with injury, beating Spain's qualifier Andrea Lazaro Garcia 6-2 6-3 in the first round of the China Open in Beijing.
The 24-year-old had not played on the WTA Tour since injuring her lower back at Indian Wells in March, where she had beaten two seeded players before the injury. She returned to competitive tennis at the Billie Jean King Cup on 22 September, narrowly losing to Czech world number 26 Marie Bouzkova last week. Against Lazaro Garcia, Kartal broke serve five times and landed 69% of her first serves, helped by four double faults from her opponent.
World number 129 Kartal will next face Chinese 31st seed Wang Xinyu as she bids to climb back up the world rankings. Fellow Britons Harriet Dart and Cameron Norrie both play later on Thursday in Beijing.
Elsewhere, British number one Arthur Fery lost 6-4 3-6 6-4 to Portuguese lucky loser Jaime Faria in the first round of the Japan Open in Tokyo. Denmark's former world number four Holger Rune, playing his first ATP Tour match for almost a year after tearing his Achilles tendon in October 2025 and dropping out of the top 100, was beaten 6-3 6-1 by France's Kyrian Jacquet in Tokyo.