Elena Rybakina suffers shock loss to world No 118 Alina Charaeva in first match since winning US Open

Elena Rybakina suffered a stunning defeat to world No 118 Alina Charaeva in her first match since becoming world No 1.

Rybakina reached the top of the world rankings after winning the US Open last month – her second Grand Slam title of 2026 – but was brought crashing back down to earth with a 6-3 4-6 3-6 defeat to Alina Charaeva at the China Open on Saturday afternoon.

Armenia’s Charaeva had never faced a top-20 player before this match, but stunned the top seed to set up a round-of-32 clash with Britain’s Sonay Kartal.

“I don’t have words,” said Charaeva after the victory of her life.

“This is incredible. Of course Elena is an amazing player who is doing really good this season winning two Grand Slams.

“For me it’s just a dream come true. I just tried to stay hard mentally and keep believing I could turn around the game to my side.

“Never stop believing, I guess!”

Alcaraz battles to book quarter-finals spot at Japan Open

Carlos Alcaraz battled through a gripping first-set tie-break to book a spot in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open with a 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 victory over Matteo Arnaldi.

The Spaniard will face world No 46 Denis Shapovalov in the last eight, after the Canadian defeated Alejandro Tabilo 7-5 3-6 6-4 in Tokyo.

After going 2-5 down in the tie-break, Alcaraz saved four set points before flipping the decider on its head and go 1-0 up.

The world No 3 found another gear in the second set, breaking Arnaldi twice to seal victory.

“I just tried to stay there, point after point,” Alcaraz said.

“I changed how I played until that moment and it worked out. I’m just happy I got that first set. Matteo was playing great.”

Elsewhere in Tokyo, Jiri Lehecka came from behind to secure a 5-7 6-4 6-4 win against Ugo Humbert and set up a quarter-final clash against Adolfo Daniel Vallejo Alvarez, who knocked out Italian Matteo Berrettini.

At the China Open, US Open champion Alexander Zverev set up a blockbuster quarter-final tie against Novak Djokovic after the German No 1 seed brushed past wildcard Juncheng Shang 6-0 6-3.

After suffering a second-round defeat at the US Open, Alex de Minaur has returned to winning ways, with the Australian overcoming France’s Quentin Halys in three sets on Saturday to set up a quarter-final clash with Andrey Rublev.

A spot in the semi-finals isn’t the only thing up for grabs in this match, with both De Minaur and Rublev battling for Race to Turin points, as both look to secure one of the final spots at this year’s ATP Finals.

Rublev booked his spot in the quarters after he bounced back from a second-set comeback from Roman Safiullin to win 6-2 3-6 6-4.

Daniil Medvedev sealed a straight-sets win over Jan-Lennard Struff, and will face the winner of Francisco Cerundolo’s tie against Jakub Mensik.

Gauff returns with a win, Dart knocked out

Following her semi-final defeat to Rybakina at the US Open, Coco Gauff returned from a three-week break and booked her spot in the third round at the China Open, with a 7-6(7-4) 4-6 6-2 win over world No 66 Camila Osorio.

The two-time Grand Slam champion outlasted the Colombian in a first-set tie-break, before being broken at 4-5 to concede the following set.

Osorio battled hard in the final exchange, saving two match points, but Gauff would see out the victory and set up a tie against China’s Xinran Sun in the next round.

Britain’s Harriet Dart started strongly in her match against 10th seed Iva Jovic, taking the opening set.

However, she keep couldn’t her foot on the accelerator, losing the next two sets in a 2-6 6-3 6-3 defeat.

After being knocked out in the last 16 at the US Open, Iga Swiatek returned to action on Saturday and converted five break points to earn a dominant 6-2 6-3 win against China’s Xinyu Gao.

Elsewhere, Elina Svitolina was forced to battle back from going a set down against Czech Katerina Siniakova, as she secured her spot in the next round with a 1-6 6-4 6-2 victory.

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