Beijing's top two women's seeds are out in the first week, Djokovic's Beijing record reaches 32-0, and Medvedev wins Hangzhou

Elena Rybakina did not win a match in her first week as world No. 1. On Saturday night in Beijing, Alina Charaeva — a 24-year-old Armenian ranked No. 118, playing only her 17th tour-level main-draw match — beat her 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 11 minutes 1. A day later the No. 2 seed, Aryna Sabalenka, went out too, losing 6-4, 6-3 in the third round to Nikola Bartůňková 2. It was the first time since 2015 that neither of the China Open's top two women's seeds reached the round of 16 2.

The men's tournament in Beijing has been steadier. Novak Djokovic beat top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to reach the semifinals and extend his unbeaten China Open record to 32 matches 3. Daniil Medvedev, who won the Hangzhou Open on Tuesday and is on a seven-match winning streak, is his semifinal opponent 4.

This issue covers 28 September – 5 October 2026, closing at the Monday 10:00 UTC cutoff. Two ATP 500s and the first of the WTA's two closing 1000s fell inside the window, along with the two Chinese ATP 250s that finished on Tuesday 29 September; no Grand Slam or ATP Masters 1000 did.

The men's event is an ATP 500 with a 32-player draw and a $4,089,385 prize fund at the National Tennis Center 11.

Three seeds were gone before the round of 16 finished. Karen Khachanov beat second seed Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3 in the round of 32; Roman Safiullin beat fourth seed Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-2; and Hubert Hurkacz beat seventh seed Learner Tien 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 5. Eighth seed Jakub Menšík followed in the round of 16, beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Francisco Cerúndolo 5.

Djokovic, the sixth seed, reached the quarterfinals the hard way. He came from a set down against the wild card Bu Yunchaokete in the round of 16, winning 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2, then did the same to Zverev 5. The win took him past the previous Open Era record for the best start at a tour-level event, 31 matches, set by Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros 12. Djokovic called it one of the two best matches he has played this season, alongside his Australian Open semifinal against Jannik Sinner, and said his body was holding up better than it had for most of the year 13. He is 17-7 for the season 13.

The other quarterfinals were quicker. Medvedev beat Cerúndolo 7-6(4), 6-3, Alex de Minaur beat Andrey Rublev 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, and Hurkacz beat Khachanov 7-6(2), 6-2 5.

Both semifinals were scheduled for Monday in Beijing — de Minaur against Hurkacz from 15:00 local time, Djokovic against Medvedev from 19:00 — and neither had been completed when this issue closed 6. Djokovic leads Medvedev 10-5 in their head-to-head series 13. The final is on Tuesday 6 October 11.

The women's event is a WTA 1000 with a 96-player draw and 32 seeds, all of whom had a bye into the second round 14. Amanda Anisimova, the defending champion, withdrew before it began with a wrist injury 14.

Rybakina had taken the No. 1 ranking at the US Open three weeks earlier, and Beijing was her first tournament with it. Charaeva is only the ninth player ranked outside the top 100 to beat a world No. 1 since the rankings began in 1975, and the lowest-ranked to do it after losing the first set 1. Rybakina made seven double faults and won just 59% of points behind her first serve 15. She said afterwards that she had felt her foot at the end of the match and would take a week to rest 1.

Sabalenka's exit was more one-sided. Bartůňková, a 20-year-old Czech at a career-high No. 34, converted three of her eight break points and saved all five she faced, and Sabalenka has now lost six straight matches after dropping the first set 2.

For everyone else the draw opened up. Iga Świątek, the eighth seed, came back from 6-4, 5-2 down to beat Donna Vekić 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-2 in two hours and 40 minutes on Monday 16. Mirra Andreeva, the fourth seed, beat Polina Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday, and Ekaterina Alexandrova came from a set down to beat Diana Shnaider and reach the round of 16 in Beijing for the first time since 2019 17.

Four round-of-16 matches are set. Świątek plays Iva Jovic, the tenth seed, who beat Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 7-5 16. Andreeva plays Daria Snigur, and Alexandrova plays the Wimbledon champion Linda Nosková 17. Bartůňková plays Sinja Kraus, who beat Dayana Yastremska 6-1, 6-4 2.

The remaining third-round matches were scheduled for Monday: the third seed Coco Gauff against the wild card Sun Xinyu, Elise Mertens against Jelena Ostapenko, Maria Sakkari against Elina Svitolina, Belinda Bencic against Ann Li, Marie Bouzková against the wild card Zheng Qinwen, and Charaeva against Sonay Kartal 6.

The other ATP 500 has a 32-player draw and runs from 30 September to 6 October 18.

By the semifinals only two seeds were left. Third seed Taylor Fritz lost his opening match to Jaume Munar 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-3; fourth seed Rafael Jodar lost to Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 6-1, 6-3; fifth seed Brandon Nakashima lost to Ugo Humbert 6-3, 6-2; sixth seed Casper Ruud lost to Luciano Darderi 7-6(3), 6-3; and seventh seed Tommy Paul lost to Alejandro Tabilo 6-1, 6-2 7. Second seed Frances Tiafoe reached the round of 16 and lost there to Arthur Fils 6-3, 7-5 7.

Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed and defending champion, has had to work as well. He came through Alex Michelsen 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-1 and Matteo Arnaldi 7-6(6), 6-1, then led Denis Shapovalov 7-6(3), 2-1 when the Canadian retired in their quarterfinal 7. In Monday's first semifinal he beat Munar 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 7.

The second semifinal, Jiří Lehečka against eighth seed Valentin Vacherot, was scheduled for not before 18:00 local time and was still to be played at the cutoff 8. Lehečka had beaten Vallejo 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, and Vacherot beat Fils 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 7.

The Chengdu Open, an ATP 250, finished on Tuesday 29 September. Second seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina came from a set down to beat the qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals, and fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz beat seventh seed Denis Shapovalov 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-3 9. Davidovich Fokina then won the final 6-4, 7-6(7) 9.

Daniil Medvedev won the AITO Hangzhou Open on the same day, beating Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-4 in an all-Russian final 10. Medvedev, the top seed, served 23 aces and did not lose his serve 19. It was his 24th ATP Tour title and his 22nd on hard courts 10.

The top four seeds all had byes into the second round, and two of them, third seed Tomás Martín Etcheverry and fourth seed Quentin Halys, lost their opening matches 10. Alexander Bublik, the 2025 champion, played the Laver Cup instead of defending 10. Medvedev and Rublev both moved on to Beijing, where Medvedev reached the semifinals and Rublev the quarterfinals 5.

ATP, Monday 5 October. Two pairs inside the top 10 swapped places: Daniil Medvedev returned to No. 5 with Félix Auger-Aliassime at No. 6, and Alex de Minaur moved to No. 9 with Arthur Fils at No. 10 20.

A dash means no change from the previous Monday. Below the top 10 the week's biggest movers were Valentin Vacherot, up four places to No. 14, Jiří Lehečka, up four to No. 19, Hubert Hurkacz, up five to No. 34, Denis Shapovalov, up four to No. 42, and Jaume Munar, up 15 to No. 49. Casper Ruud fell three places to No. 24 20.

In the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, which moves during the week, Zverev leads on 8,750 points from Sinner on 7,950, with Carlos Alcaraz fourth on 4,380 and Medvedev eighth on 3,220 21.

WTA. The WTA publishes its singles table on Mondays, and the updated list had not appeared at the time of this issue's cutoff, so the last published table, from 28 September, still stands: Elena Rybakina at No. 1 on 9,901 points and Aryna Sabalenka at No. 2 on 7,810 22. Both left Beijing in the first week, and Rybakina has since withdrawn from the Wuhan Open, the last WTA 1000 of the season, which begins on 12 October 23.

Beijing and Tokyo both finish on Tuesday 6 October, with the China Open men's final and the Japan Open final on the same day 1118. The women's draw in Beijing runs on to Sunday 11 October, moving through the round of 16 from Tuesday 14.

The Shanghai Masters, an ATP Masters 1000, holds qualifying on 5 and 6 October and starts its main draw on Wednesday 7 October, running to 18 October over a 96-player draw 4. The draw was made on Monday, and it will be missing the world No. 1: Jannik Sinner withdrew with the knee injury that has already cost him the China Open 24. Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed, opens against Juan Manuel Cerúndolo or a qualifier; top seed Alexander Zverev plays the Chinese wild card Wu Yibing or a qualifier; and four-time champion Djokovic plays Hurkacz or James Duckworth 4. Zverev and Djokovic are in the same half, and the defending champion Valentin Vacherot, who last year became the lowest-ranked Masters 1000 champion in series history at No. 204, plays Sebastián Báez or Marcos Giron 4.

The women move on to the Wuhan Open, their second Chinese 1000, from 12 to 18 October. Rybakina has withdrawn, along with Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys, Emma Navarro and Karolina Pliskova 23. It is the final WTA 1000 of the season 25.