Comeback after a lost opening set

On Tuesday, 20 October, Katarzyna Kawa beat Ukraine's Daria Snihur 1:6, 6:2, 6:4 in the WTA 500 tournament in Ningbo, China, and reached the second round. Snihur won the opening set and gave Kawa only one game in it. Kawa then steadied herself, took the second set 6:2 and levelled the match before winning the decider 6:4. According to one report, the match was halted midway through the second set and finished on the main court. The decider was the most even of the three sets, and Kawa kept her composure at the decisive moments.

Route into the main draw

Kawa's path ran through qualifying. Snihur retired during her qualifying match against Kawa on Sunday, 18 October, and as a lucky loser she still entered the main draw. Earlier in qualifying, Katie Volynets retired against Kawa at 6:1, 3:4 for the Pole. Kawa then faced Snihur again in the qualifying decider, which ended when the Ukrainian retired. Two reports spell the player's surname Snigur rather than Snihur, so the spelling differs across sources. Magdalena Fręch left qualifying after a withdrawal against Shi Han, which one report attributes to an injury.

Withdrawals leave Kawa as the only Polish player

Maja Chwalińska was Kawa's scheduled first-round opponent in the main draw, but she withdrew after her Sunday win in the WTA 1000 final in Wuhan. Iga Świątek then withdrew from Ningbo on Tuesday morning Polish time, after arriving in China, because she did not want to risk worsening an injury. Świątek announced the end of her season shortly afterwards. One report notes that she had been chasing a secure place at Indian Wells, and a 500-level result in Ningbo could have brought her closer to Karolina Muchova. With Fręch out, Kawa became the only Polish player left in the tournament, and one report describes her as the lowest-ranked Polish player in the draw.

How the match was decided

According to Polsat Sport, Snihur won the first set with four breaks, while Kawa committed five double faults in that set. Kawa then cut her unforced errors and the Ukrainian began making more of them, which helped the Pole win the second set 6:2. The match lasted more than two hours. The 33-year-old Kawa, who comes from Krynica-Zdrój, is ranked 128th in the WTA rankings according to the same report.

Next: Belinda Bencic

In the second round Kawa meets fifth seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. The winner of that match reaches the quarterfinal of the Ningbo tournament, and Kawa has a second chance to add a result against a top-ranked opponent in the same event.