Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, playing her first match as world No. 1, lost in the opening round of the China Open to Alina Charaeva of Armenia 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, infohub.kz reports.
Nearly three weeks had passed since Rybakina's triumph at the 2026 US Open. She spent that time recovering from injury, training lightly and attending official events. But tennis life, like any other, does not stand still. The 2026 China Open in Beijing became the first tournament the Kazakh player began as the queen of tennis.
In the match against Charaeva, a former Russian who has represented Armenia since July, sparkling tennis was hardly to be expected from Rybakina. Long breaks from competitive play take their toll. After taking the first set 6-3, Elena dropped the second 4-6 and then the third 3-6. Alina tried hard, chased down every ball and eventually forced the favorite into errors, claiming the most important win of her career so far.
The match lasted 2 hours 11 minutes. Aces were 6-3 in Charaeva's favor, double faults 7-4 in Rybakina's favor. Total points won were 88-83 in favor of the Armenian player.
Unlike Rybakina, Alexander Bublik (357) is still competing in Beijing. After crashing out of the singles draw, Kazakhstan's top player (and world No. 20) teamed up with China's Shang Juncheng (587) to reach the doubles semifinals.
The Kazakh and the Chinese will face the Dutch pair of Sander Arends (47) and David Pel (49) for a place in the final.
The China Open tennis tournament is being held this year for the 25th time among men (ATP-500) and the 27th time among women (WTA-1000). The total prize fund is $9.4 million.
Over the years, the prestigious hard-court event has been won by Michael Chang, Jim Courier, Marat Safin, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki, Iga Swiatek and other stars.
The 2025 Beijing champions — Italy's Jannik Sinner (1) and American Amanda Anisimova (11) — are not taking part in this year's tournament.