BEIJING (AP) — No. 1-ranked Elena Rybakina was ousted from the China Open by No. 118 Alina Charaeva of Armenia in the second round on Saturday.
Charaeva held her head in her hands in disbelief after winning 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
"I was just trying to stay really hard mentally and keep believing that at some point I could turn it around again to my side. And I guess I just never stopped believing,” said Charaeva, only the ninth woman outside the top 100 to beat a No. 1.
Rybakina had seven double faults and dropped her serve five times, the last time to fall behind 4-2 in the third set.
New U.S. Open champion Rybakina became only the second woman to lose her first match as world No. 1. Naomi Osaka was the other, in 2019.
“There was a lot going on after the U.S. Open victory. I didn't get a lot of chances to sleep and recover," Rybakina said. “Congratulations to Alina. She played a very good match.”
Coco Gauff, who lost to Rybakina in the U.S. Open semifinals, won her first match since then against Camila Osorio 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-2.
In the men's tournament, top seed and U.S. Open champion Alexander Zverev beat wild card Shang Juncheng 6-0, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal against Novak Djokovic.
Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev advanced by beating Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-3.
In a second-round match, Alex de Minaur beat Quentin Halys 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5.
