Jelena Ostapenko has been warned that “she is not going to enjoy Sonay Kartal’s game style” when they face each other at the Wuhan Open.

The pair are surprise semi-finalists at the WTA 1000 tournament as Ostapenko stunned second seed Jessica Pegula in the second round and also beat Leylah Fernandez and 11th seed Diana Shnaider to reach the last four at this level for the second time this year after her run in Dubai in February.

Like Ostapenko, Kartal is also unseeded and she defeated Anhelina Kalinina in the first round before upsetting ninth seed Belinda Bencic, 15th seed Jasmine Paolini and fifth seed Elina Svitolina.

The British player’s three-set win over Svitolina was only her second victory over a top-10 player and that result has resulted in an 83-place surge in the Live WTA Rankings to No 87.

Former world No 5 Ostapenko, meanwhile, started the Wuhan Open at No 34 in the rankings and she has jumped 10 places.

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There is no doubt that Kartal will be high on confidence following three brilliant wins over seeded players and former player-turned-Sky Sports Tennis pundit Naomi Broady believes she will offer a tough challenge to Ostapenko due to her ability to chase down every ball.

“I don’t think Ostapenko is going to enjoy Kartal’s game style with the amount of balls Sonay is going to put back into play,” she said on Sky Sports Tennis.

“It will be interesting because when Svitolina upped her aggression in that match, Sonay wasn’t all that comfortable in set two, but, of course, it’s Ostapenko’s base game, isn’t it?

“But Sonay is going to be expecting that. She’s seeing the ball big, so it’s going to be all about keeping the ball out of the strike zone.

“Ostapenko has withdrawn from the doubles here – possibly struggling with the forearm injury – because we saw the physio coming out a couple of rounds ago against Jessica Pegula and she has had it taped since.

“She is not going to enjoy having someone like Kartal down the other end of the court. I think when the pressure is on Ostapenko’s back she doesn’t always perform her best.”

The Wuhan Open semi-final will be Ostapenko and Kartal’s third career meeting with the score 1-1 as the 2017 French Open champion won in straight sets on the grass in Eastbourne last June before Kartal drew level at Wimbledon a few weeks later.