Alina Charaeva stuns world No. 1 Rybakina in Beijing
World No. 118 Alina Charaeva scored a historic upset, defeating top-ranked Elena Rybakina at the China Open. The Armenian's comeback victory marks the lowest-ranked win over a WTA No. 1 in nearly 50 years.
Alina Charaeva defeated world No. 1 Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the China Open. The 24-year-old Armenian, ranked 118th, made her Beijing debut with a stunning two-hour and 11-minute victory inside a wind-rattled, closed-roof stadium.
Charaeva becomes the first Armenian to beat a WTA number one. She is the lowest-ranked player since the introduction of WTA rankings in 1975 to defeat the world No. 1 after losing the first set. Charaeva broke Rybakina's serve three times, converted five of eight break-point opportunities, and won 76 percent of points behind her first serve.
Rybakina's uncharacteristic errors and recovery
Elena Rybakina, the 27-year-old defending champion, was playing her first match since winning the US Open and claiming the top ranking. She committed seven double faults in the match. Rybakina had trouble with her foot after her US Open win and will rest for a week to recover. The new world number one had won her last 14 opening-round matches at WTA 1000-level before this loss.
Serve statistics showed the shift in momentum during the match.
| Player | First Serve % | Points Won on First Serve |
|---|---|---|
| Elena Rybakina | 57% | 60% |
| Alina Charaeva | 64% | 76% |
Rybakina was chasing her 50th Tour-level win of 2026. Charaeva's first-round win over Yuliia Starodubtseva was her first-ever at WTA 1000-level. She had previously defeated Sofia Kenin in Seoul last month.
Kartal's comeback and next challenge
Charaeva will face Great Britain's Sonay Kartal in the next round. Kartal advanced to the third round by defeating Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-2. She returned to competition after a six-month injury lay-off and reached the quarter-finals in Beijing last year. "I knew the support would be more towards the other end of the net but it was a super-fun environment to play in," Kartal said.
In other women's results, Coco Gauff defeated Camila Osorio 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2 earlier in the day. Gauff will face home favourite Sun Xinran in the third round. Sun, ranked 582, beat Spain's Cristina Bucsa 6-4, 7-5. Iga Swiatek, seeded eighth, beat Gao Xinyu in straight sets and will play Donna Vekic. Sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina beat Katerina Siniakova, and Belinda Bencic downed Anastasia Zakharova.
Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 23, rebuked rowdy fans for shouting during her match. She advanced after Anna Kalinskaya retired with injury, giving Zheng a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 3-0 victory in two hours and 22 minutes. She will face Marie Bouzkova in the third round. Harriet Dart took a set off American 10th seed Iva Jovic but lost 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Men's draw advances with Zverev dominant
In the men's draw, German top seed Alexander Zverev, the world's second-ranked player, defeated local wildcard Shang Juncheng 6-0, 6-3 in 55 minutes. The 21-year-old Chinese player is ranked 250th. Zverev fired nine aces during the match. He holds a perfect 31-0 record at the ATP 500 event and has six China Open titles. Zverev aims to reach the number-one ranking currently held by Jannik Sinner, who is not participating this year. Zverev will not play at next week's Shanghai Masters.
Zverev will play Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. Djokovic, a 24-time grand slam champion, has never lost a match in Beijing. Third seed Daniil Medvedev defeated Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals, where he will play Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo. Fifth seed Alex de Minaur needed three sets to advance, as did Andrey Rublev. De Minaur and Rublev will play each other in the quarter-finals.
The tournament's unpredictability continues with Charaeva's quarter-final match against Sonay Kartal.
