Zheng Qinwen becomes the first Chinese champion of the China Open, Djokovic wins Beijing then loses his Shanghai opener, and Shelton is out in the third round
Zheng Qinwen became the first Chinese woman to win the China Open as a wild card, Novak Djokovic won a 102nd tour title in Beijing and lost his Shanghai opener five days later, and Ben Shelton went out of Shanghai to Arthur Gea.
Zheng Qinwen won the China Open on Sunday night, beating Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 43 minutes 1.
Zheng entered as a wild card ranked No. 54. She is the first Chinese woman to win the title, and the first wild card to win it since the tournament returned to the calendar in 2004 1.
The route was long. Each of her first four matches went to a third set, and the 78 games she dropped were the most by any WTA 1000 champion since the tier began in 1990 12.
The same window gave Novak Djokovic his 102nd tour-level title in Beijing. Five days later it gave him his first defeat by Hubert Hurkacz 34.
This issue covers 5–12 October 2026, closing at the Monday 10:00 UTC cutoff. A WTA 1000 and an ATP Masters 1000 both fell inside the window, along with the two ATP 500 finals that were still unplayed a week ago. No Grand Slam did.
Results at a glance
| Event and stage | Outcome | Score or status |
|---|---|---|
| China Open, Beijing (WTA 1000) — final | Zheng Qinwen bt [4] Mirra Andreeva | 7-5, 6-4 1 |
| China Open, Beijing (WTA 1000) — semifinals | Zheng bt [13] Elise Mertens; Andreeva bt [26] Nikola Bartůňková | 7-5, 6-2; 6-2, 6-2 25 |
| China Open, Beijing (WTA 1000) — quarterfinals | Zheng, Mertens, Andreeva and Bartůňková through | Zheng bt [6] Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6(6); Mertens bt [8] Iga Świątek 7-6(0), 6-3; Andreeva bt [19] Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6(4), 7-6(3); Bartůňková bt [7] Karolína Muchová 6-3, 6-0 67 |
| China Open, Beijing (ATP 500) — final | [6] Djokovic bt [5] Alex de Minaur | 7-6(3), 0-1 retired 3 |
| Japan Open, Tokyo (ATP 500) — final | [1] Carlos Alcaraz bt Jiří Lehečka | 7-6(4), 6-4 8 |
| Shanghai Masters (ATP 1000) — rounds one to three | Djokovic, Shelton, Cobolli, Tiafoe and Fritz among those out; Zverev, Alcaraz, Auger-Aliassime, Medvedev and de Minaur through | Djokovic lost in the second round to Hurkacz 6-4, 6-3; Shelton lost in the third round to Arthur Gea 7-6(5), 7-6(3) 49 |
| Shanghai Masters (ATP 1000) — round of 16 | four third-round matches and the whole round of 16 still to come | Medvedev vs Svrčina, Bergs vs Alcaraz, Fils vs van de Zandschulp and Paul vs Vacherot were unplayed at the cutoff 10 |
| Wuhan Open (WTA 1000) | main draw opens Monday 12 October | Sabalenka top seed; Rybakina, Gauff, Zheng and Andreeva all withdrawn 1112 |
China Open, Beijing (WTA 1000): a wild card wins at home
The women's event is a WTA 1000 with a 96-player draw and 32 seeds, every one of whom had a bye into the second round 7.
Zheng's half was the tougher one. In the quarterfinals she beat sixth seed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6(6) in an hour and 47 minutes 6.
She then beat 13th seed Elise Mertens 7-5, 6-2 to become the first Chinese finalist in the event's history 2.
Mertens had done the damage in that quarter. She knocked out third seed Coco Gauff in the fourth round, then beat eighth seed Iga Świątek 7-6(0), 6-3 without facing a break point 6.
Andreeva came through the bottom half. The fourth seed beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6(4), 7-6(3) in the quarterfinals, then Nikola Bartůňková 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals 57.
Bartůňková, the 26th seed, reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal by beating seventh seed Karolína Muchová 6-3, 6-0 in the quarterfinals 7.
The fourth round removed most of what was left. Fifth seed Linda Nosková, 10th seed Iva Jović, 12th seed Naomi Osaka and 21st seed Ann Li all went out there 7.
Two seeds retired in the second round, 15th seed Anna Kalinskaya and 16th seed Anastasia Potapova 7.
In the final Zheng saved three set points in the first set, then won 11 points in a row to take it. She broke in the ninth game of the second set and served it out 1.
The title was Zheng's first at WTA 1000 level and her sixth on tour, and her first since she won in Tokyo in late 2024. She had fallen to No. 160 in June 16.
It was also her 14th career win over a top-10 opponent, and her third this season 1.
Andreeva, the 19-year-old French Open champion, becomes the third-youngest player this century to reach No. 3 in the world, behind only Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters 1.
The two ATP 500s finish: a 102nd title and a Tokyo defence
The semifinals left unplayed at the last cutoff were decided on Monday 5 October in Beijing.
Alex de Minaur reached his 10th ATP 500 final when Hubert Hurkacz retired with an adductor injury, with de Minaur leading 6-4, 3-2 13.
Novak Djokovic reached his 146th tour-level final when Daniil Medvedev was defaulted at 7-5, 5-3 in the other semifinal. Medvedev hit a ball into the crowd during the change of ends and struck a spectator 13.
Djokovic won the title on Tuesday 6 October when de Minaur retired at the start of the second set. Djokovic had taken the opening set 7-6(3), and both players had called for the physio 3.
It was Djokovic's 102nd tour-level title, one behind Roger Federer's 103 and two behind Jimmy Connors' 109. The win extended his unbeaten record in Beijing to 34 matches 3.
Djokovic is the first man in the Open Era to win a tour-level trophy in 21 consecutive seasons. The title also lifted him six places to ninth in the ATP Live Race to Turin, 140 points ahead of de Minaur 3.
In Tokyo, Carlos Alcaraz defended the Japan Open title by beating Jiří Lehečka 7-6(4), 6-4 in Tuesday's final. It was Alcaraz's first trophy since he returned from a wrist injury 8.
Rolex Shanghai Masters (ATP 1000): Djokovic and Shelton out in the first week
The Shanghai Masters is a 12-day ATP Masters 1000 on hard courts, played from 7 to 18 October over a 96-player draw with a prize fund of $9,415,725 1014.
Three rounds were complete at this issue's cutoff, and four third-round matches were still to be played 10.
The event lost its four-time champion in his opening match. Hubert Hurkacz beat Djokovic 6-4, 6-3 for his first win over him in nine meetings, so Djokovic's tournament ended in the second round 4.
Hurkacz had retired from that Beijing semifinal five days earlier. In Shanghai he has won three matches and plays Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the round of 16 1013.
The third seed, Ben Shelton, went out in the third round, beaten 7-6(5), 7-6(3) by Arthur Gea. Gea is 21, began the year at No. 241, and was playing the main draw of a Masters 1000 for the first time 9.
That was Gea's first win over a top-10 opponent. He had already beaten 30th seed Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, and he plays Jakub Menšík next 9.
Seventeen seeds were gone before the round of 16.
| Seed | Player | Round out | Beaten by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Ben Shelton | Third round | Arthur Gea 7-6(5), 7-6(3) 9 |
| 6 | Flavio Cobolli | Second round | Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 10 |
| 7 | Frances Tiafoe | Third round | Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(6) 10 |
| 10 | Novak Djokovic | Second round | Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 6-3 4 |
| 11 | Taylor Fritz | Third round | Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 10 |
| 14 | Learner Tien | Third round | Casper Ruud 6-4, 7-6(3) 10 |
| 16 | Brandon Nakashima | Third round | Alexander Bublik 6-7(7), 6-3, 7-6(5) 10 |
| 18 | Luciano Darderi | Second round | Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 10 |
| 22 | Jiří Lehečka | Third round | Rafael Jodar 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 10 |
| 23 | Andrey Rublev | Second round | Sakamoto, a qualifier, 6-4, 6-4 10 |
| 24 | Lorenzo Musetti | Second round | Zhou Yi, a wild card, 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(1) 10 |
| 27 | Alexander Blockx | Second round | Quentin Halys 4-6, 7-6(9), 6-4 10 |
| 28 | Tomás Martín Etcheverry | Second round | Svrčina 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 10 |
| 29 | Alejandro Tabilo | Second round | Pablo Carreño Busta 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 10 |
| 30 | Ugo Humbert | Second round | Arthur Gea 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 10 |
| 31 | Alex Michelsen | Second round | Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 6-4 10 |
| 32 | Ignacio Buse | Second round | Zizou Bergs 6-0, 6-3 10 |
Zhou Yi then lost to Hurkacz in the third round, and Sakamoto lost to ninth seed Alex de Minaur 7-6(6), 6-4 10.
Five seeds are still standing. Top seed Alexander Zverev has won twice, beating the wild card Wu Yibing 6-4, 7-6(4) and then Quentin Halys 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-3, a result that was his 60th win of 2026 1015.
Second seed Carlos Alcaraz has played once, beating Juan Manuel Cerúndolo 6-3, 6-3 10.
Fourth seed Félix Auger-Aliassime, fifth seed Daniil Medvedev and de Minaur are also through, along with 12th seed Rafael Jodar, 13th seed Jakub Menšík, 19th seed Alexander Bublik, 20th seed Casper Ruud and 25th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 10.
Jodar, 20, is into the fourth round of a Masters 1000 for the first time and is 40-16 in his first full season on tour 15.
Five round-of-16 matches are set for Tuesday and Wednesday: Zverev against Bublik, de Minaur against Karen Khachanov, Gea against Menšík, Hurkacz against Davidovich Fokina, and Ruud against Auger-Aliassime 10.
Four third-round matches were unplayed at the cutoff: Medvedev against Svrčina, Bergs against Alcaraz, Fils against Botic van de Zandschulp, and 15th seed Tommy Paul against the defending champion Valentin Vacherot 10.
Rankings watch
ATP, Monday 12 October. 16
| Rank | Player | Movement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jannik Sinner | — | 11,000 |
| 2 | Alexander Zverev | — | 9,720 |
| 3 | Carlos Alcaraz | — | 5,560 |
| 4 | Ben Shelton | — | 4,680 |
| 5 | Félix Auger-Aliassime | +1 | 3,890 |
| 6 | Daniil Medvedev | −1 | 3,860 |
| 7 | Flavio Cobolli | — | 3,680 |
| 8 | Novak Djokovic | +3 | 3,480 |
| 9 | Alex de Minaur | — | 3,430 |
| 10 | Frances Tiafoe | −2 | 3,380 |
A dash means no change from the table published on 5 October.
Djokovic's Beijing title carried him back into the top 10, from No. 11 to No. 8. Auger-Aliassime and Medvedev swapped places for the second week running 16.
Arthur Fils dropped one place to No. 11. Lehečka's run to the Tokyo final took him to No. 16, and Vacherot held at No. 14 16.
The Shanghai results in this issue do not count towards these positions. They appear from next Monday, when Hurkacz will move from No. 34 and Gea from outside the top 50 16.
| Rank | Player | Movement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elena Rybakina | — | 9,696 |
| 2 | Aryna Sabalenka | — | 7,550 |
| 3 | Mirra Andreeva | +2 | 6,371 |
| 4 | Jessica Pegula | −1 | 6,225 |
| 5 | Coco Gauff | −1 | 5,974 |
| 6 | Elina Svitolina | +1 | 5,024 |
| 7 | Karolína Muchová | +1 | 4,773 |
| 8 | Linda Nosková | −2 | 4,679 |
| 9 | Iga Świątek | — | 3,999 |
| 10 | Marta Kostyuk | — | 3,910 |
Rybakina and Sabalenka both lost inside Beijing's first week, and both keep their places at the top 12.
Andreeva's rise to No. 3 is a career high. She passed Pegula and Gauff, who each slip one place, while Svitolina and Muchová move up one after reaching the Beijing quarterfinals 12.
Iva Jović climbs two places to a career-high No. 11, Elise Mertens reaches No. 14, and Nikola Bartůňková, a Beijing semifinalist, reaches No. 29 1217.
The week ahead: 12–18 October
Shanghai plays its second week, from the round of 16 on Tuesday 13 October to the final on Sunday 18 October 14.
Zverev, Alcaraz, Auger-Aliassime, Medvedev and de Minaur are the highest seeds left. Djokovic's exit leaves the Live Race to Turin as the tournament's other thread, with Djokovic ninth and 140 points clear of de Minaur 310.
The women move to the Wuhan Open, the last WTA 1000 of the season, which opens on Monday 12 October and runs to 18 October. It is the ninth edition of the event, on outdoor hard courts at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center, with a 56-player singles draw 1118.
Aryna Sabalenka is the top seed and Jessica Pegula the second. Sabalenka has not won a tournament since March 11.
Sabalenka and Iga Świątek are in the same quarter of the draw, where they could meet for the first time since Roland Garros. Świątek leads their head-to-head 8-5 11.
References
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- 6Qinwen Zheng, Elise Mertens advance to Beijing semifinals\
fieldlevelmedia.com
- 72026 China Open – Women's singles\
en.wikipedia.org
- 8What were the Tokyo tennis results?\
atptour.com
- 9Gea upsets Shelton in Shanghai R3\
atptour.com
- 10Shanghai 2026\
tennisexplorer.com
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- 12The new WTA top 10 after the China Open\
sports.yahoo.com
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- 14Rolex Shanghai Masters overview
atptour.com
- 15News | Rolex Shanghai Masters
en.rolexshanghaimasters.com
- 16PIF ATP Rankings (Singles)
atptour.com
- 17WTA rankings
tennisexplorer.com
- 182026 Wuhan Open
en.wikipedia.org
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