The Beijing tournament lost its top two women’s seeds in just over 12 hours following upset losses by Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka.
The China Open lost both of its top two women’s seeds in little more than 12 hours after world No. 1 Elena Rybakina and world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka suffered upset defeats in Beijing.
Rybakina was eliminated in the second round on Saturday, falling to unseeded world No. 118 Alina Charaeva of Armenia in a match that lasted two hours and 11 minutes. The defeat came in Rybakina’s first match since rising to the world No. 1 ranking. Charaeva moves on to face Britain’s Sonay Kartal in the third round.
Sabalenka followed her out on Sunday, losing 6-4, 6-3 in the third round to Czechia’s Nikola Bartunkova, who is ranked 34th. Sabalenka has now lost six straight matches when dropping the first set. She had opened her tournament on Friday with a 6-1, 6-3 second-round win over Mexico’s Renata Zarazua, winning 32 of 39 service points without facing a break point in her first action since losing the US Open final to Rybakina.
Elsewhere in the Beijing tournament, Iga Swiatek won her second-round match against Gao Xinyu 6-2, 6-3, and Naomi Osaka defeated Maria Timofeeva 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. In the men’s draw, Alexander Zverev advanced to the quarterfinals, setting up a matchup with Novak Djokovic, who rallied past Bu.
