The Sonay Kartal fan group is growing with Jessica Pegula admitting she loves the British player’s no-nonsense attitude.

Kartal has surged to a career-high No 49 in the WTA Rankings following her superb run at the Wuhan Open last week, where she reached her maiden WTA 1000 final.

Having missed several months due to injury, the 24-year-old used her protected ranking to enter the tournament and beat ninth seed Belinda Bencic, 15th seed Jasmine Paolini and fifth seed Elina Svitolina to reach the showpiece match.

Facing fellow first-time finalist Maja Chwalinska, Kartal produced another gritty display before going down 6-2, 4-6, 2-6, but despite not leaving with the title, she secured a 121-place jump in the rankings.

What made her performance in Wuhan even more impressive is the fact that it was only her second tournament back after she spent nearly seven months on the sidelines due to a back injury.

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At the time, that injury was a devastating blow as she was on a good run as she reached the fourth round of the Indian Wells Open with wins over 15th seed Madison Keys and 20th seed Emma Navarro before being forced to retire from her match against Elina Rybakina.

During the latest episode of The Player’s Box podcast, Keys shared her thoughts on Kartal, saying: “I played her at Indian Wells this year. I lost in three and then in the next round was playing incredibly well against Rybakina, and I think she was up like a set in a break or something and then she got hurt.

“She got hurt and she’d been out since and last week I think she played Beijing. She was out for that long stint, but she is very talented.”

World No 4 Pegula then explained what impresses her most about Kartal, who has overtaken Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu to become the British No 1 for the first time in her career.

“I remember watching her last year play us at BJK, and I was like, I kind of love watching this girl,” the American said.

“She just doesn’t give a f, but not in an attitude way; she just walks around and plays tennis. She’s so good, and her attitude is no-nonsense: ‘I’m here to play, whatever.’ I really enjoyed watching her.

“She’s good. I feel like the conditions there in Wuhan, too, being a bit slower, definitely cater to her, because she likes to grind a bit and moves well.”

Keys added: “It’s also always so nice to see someone have success after being out for long periods of time.”