Sonay

Britain’s Sonay Kartal won on her return to the WTA Tour after almost six months out with injury as she beat Andrea Lazaro Garcia at the China Open.

The 24-year-old injured her lower back at Indian Wells in March and only made her return to tennis at the Billie Jean King Cup on 22 September.

Kartal, who narrowly lost to Czech world number 26 Marie Bouzkova on that return last week, produced a confident performance in Beijing to beat Spain’s Lazaro Garcia 6-2 6-3.

The Briton broke the qualifier’s serve five times – helped by four double faults from her opponent – and landed 69% of her first serves.

World number 129 Kartal will face Chinese 31st seed Wang Xinyu next as she bids to work her way back up the world rankings.

Fellow Briton Cameron Norrie lost 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 to US Open champion and world number two Alexander Zverev, while Harriet Dart is in action later on Thursday.

Elsewhere, British number one Arthur Fery fell 6-4 3-6 6-4 to Portuguese lucky loser Jaime Faria in the Japan Open first round.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz claimed a rusty 7-6 (7-1) 4-6 6-1 win over Alex Michelsen as he made his return to the ATP Tour.

Spanish world number three Alcaraz was sidelined for just over five months with a wrist injury before returning at the US Open, where he reached the quarter-finals.

Alcaraz struggled on serve against Michelsen, committing five double faults to five aces.

However, he saved five of the 13 break points he faced to advance and set up a second-round meeting with Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi.

Denmark’s Holger Rune also lost on his first ATP Tour appearance for almost a year.

Former world number four Rune tore his Achilles tendon in October 2025 and has since dropped out of the top 100.

He was beaten 6-3 6-1 by France’s Kyrian Jacquet in Tokyo.

Sonay Kartal and Katie Boulter lost their respective singles matches as Great Britain were beaten by a strong Czech Republic side in the Billie Jean King Cup quarter-finals.

Anne Keothavong’s team headed into the tie as underdogs, with all five Czech players placed higher in the singles rankings than any of the British squad.

Sonay Kartal produced a gritty performance as she returned to tennis after six months out with a lower back injury, but fell to a narrow 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 6-4 defeat in a marathon three-hour encounter with Marie Bouzkova.

Boulter could do little to get Britain back into the best-of-three tie as she was outplayed 6-2 7-6 (7-3) by Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova.

It was a second successive loss for Boulter at the hands of a Czech player, coming just three weeks after a 58-minute demolition by Karolina Muchova at the US Open.

It is the first time since 2023 that Britain have failed to reach the semi-finals at the Billie Jean King Cup and their wait for a maiden title will go on for another year.

The Czech Republic, who are 11-time winners of the tournament and the only team boasting two top-10 players at the Finals, will face either Kazakhstan or Spain in Friday’s semi-finals.