Sonay Kartal makes bold claim after China Open exit as Emma Raducanu under threat

Sonay Kartal has suggested that she can reach a "top-10 level" after enjoying a breakthrough week at the China Open. The Brighton-based star earned the biggest win of her career when she stunned world No. 5 Mirra Andreeva to reach her maiden WTA 1000 quarter-final, but she bowed out to Linda Noskova on Friday.

Currently the fourth-best British woman in the WTA rankings, Kartal will become the British No. 2 next week, sitting behind Emma Raducanu. And the 23-year-old believes she can go even further.

Kartal has been on the rise over the last couple of years. She picked up her maiden title in Monastir last year and followed it up by reaching the fourth round of Indian Wells in March, and the second week of Wimbledon over the summer.

But the Brit struggled to replicate those results and recently went on a four-match losing streak. Having been ranked as high as No. 44 in the world, Kartal dropped outside the top 80, but she's back on the up thanks to her run in Beijing.

Kartal was keen to make some small adjustments in her game, and they've been paying off over the past week. She stormed into the last 16 with easy wins over Alycia Parks, Daria Kasatkina and Maya Joint.

Then, Kartal shocked fourth seed Andreeva 7-5 2-6 7-5 to reach the biggest quarter-final of her career.

The 23-year-old ultimately suffered a 6-3 6-4 defeat to Noskova in the quarters, but she's set to return to No. 60 next week and will leapfrog fellow British tennis stars Francesca Jones and Katie Boulter in the rankings. Now, Kartal is shooting even higher.

"I feel like it's the first time I've really brought it to a match court, the new kind of style I want to play, and I've been trying to get myself to do and that I've been working on on the practice court," Kartal explained.

"So I think to be able to do it and to have the results so convincingly that I did in the previous rounds, I think I'm on the right path, and I think it's given me a lot of confidence.

"Regardless of it being the end of the year, I've proven to myself that if I just add one or two things to my game, it can take my level to a top-10 level and a much higher level than I'm currently ranked at."

Kartal has a long way to go before she catches Raducanu, who currently sits at No. 32 in the world, but her run in Beijing will give her a huge boost. If she can reach the top 10, she may well steal Raducanu's status as the top Brit.

"I might not have the reward straight away, but I think it's going to push me in the direction that I need to go," Kartal explained.

"It's just being brave and taking those risks, I think that's what the best players do, so I think that's definitely the route I'm trying to go at and it's had great success this week."