Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka suffer early upsets at China Open in Beijing
Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka suffered early exits at the tournament in Beijing, while Iga Swiatek advances to face Donna Vekic on Monday.
Top-seeded players Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka were eliminated during the opening days of seeded competition in Beijing. Rybakina, playing her first match as world number one, lost 3:6, 6:3, 6:4 to Alina Charaeva, who entered the match ranked in the second hundred. Sabalenka followed with a 4:6, 3:6 defeat against 20-year-old Czech player Nikola Bartunkova on Sunday. The result marks Sabalenka's third straight-sets defeat of the season, following losses to Naomi Osaka at Wimbledon and Sara Bejlek in Cincinnati.
Both Rybakina and Sabalenka have already secured qualification spots for the WTA Finals, while Iga Swiatek continues to pursue ranking points behind Elina Svitolina and Karolina Muchova. Swiatek defeated China's Xinyu Gao on Saturday and will play 30th seed Donna Vekic on Monday. Vekic entered the doubles draw alongside Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez after Paula Badosa withdrew due to a lower back injury suffered during a 6:7 (5), 5:7 loss to Jelena Ostapenko. Elsewhere in doubles, Maja Chwalinska and Bartunkova advanced with a 6:2, 6:2 victory over Caty McNally and Janice Tjen.
