The WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing has begun in earnest, as seeded players came into action on the first day of round of 64 competition on Friday. That day did not bring any significant upsets, as most of the matches were quite straightforward with the expected conclusions. Interestingly, only two out of 16 matches came down to three sets and only four ended up with victories by players who were not the pre-match favorites according to odds. Here is a breakdown of what happened in the bottom half of the draw today and a preview of Saturday's top half action.
Krejcikova defeats Alexandrova
That was the hit clash of Friday, as Barbora Krejcikova who is coming back to her good form - including her run to the quarterfinals of the US Open, played against the in-form Ekaterina Alexandrova who sits in 10th place in the WTA Race and played a great tournament in Seoul last week, being very close to the final victory (review article). That match happened due to Krejcikova still being a little behind seeding spots, however it's unlikely that this will happen for a longer time unless the Czech will stay healthy and continue her run of form. It was a high quality match in the first set with much hard and clean hitting from both sides. Ultimately, Krejcikova took that set despite failing to serve for it in the 9th game. Alexandrova looked quite deflated since then, dropping the ball in the second set which got quickly settled in Krejcikova's favor. The Czech won by 7-5 6-2, scoring her third win against a top 20 ranked opponent since the start of August. The 2024 Wimbledon champion has a positive record of 11-4 on hard courts this season and can be considered as a threat in later stages of that tournament.
Rybakina fights through
The 8th seed had to put in much effort against the world number 90 Caty McNally, winning in three sets by 7-5 4-6 6-3. Rybakina was down on the scoreline throughout almost the whole first set, but came back to scrape it after defending three set points on McNally's serve in the 10th game and adding another break a few minutes later. The lower-ranked American did not give up and continued to put some pressure on Rybakina which got rewarded with winning the second set by one break that happened in the 9th game. Rybakina finally stepped up in the deciding set, setting up the early lead. McNally had chances to come back level, but the Kazakh defended two break points in the 7th game and finally crossed the finish line after 2.5 hours of play. The world number 10 committed an unusual number of 7 double faults but compensated that with 8 aces and an efficient level of serving in the third set. She won 81% of first serve and 58% of second serve in the decider, numbers which raised by about 15% both since the scrappy second set played by Rybakina.
It was just one of two three-setters on that day. The other one was won by Eva Lys, who defeated the new WTA 500 champion from Guadalajara - Iva Jovic. The 18-year-old was close to coming back from a set down against the German, leading by 5-2 in the final set. The young American who impressed with her aggressiveness and clutchness in crucial moments during the winning campaign in Mexico, was unusually passive since then, playing the rallies with a lot of cautiousness which fueled the German's comeback in that match. Lys won 5 games in a row including two relatively easy breaks. The world number 66 won by 6-3 4-6 7-5 despite 10 double faults committed (compared to just one ace scored in the whole match). The match had quite poor quality with both players scoring less than 60% on first serve and multiple pressure points faced on both sides.
Badosa breakthrough win, favorites in cruise control
Paula Badosa recorded her first victory since the middle of June, winning over the world number 80 - Antonia Ruzic. The Spaniard was missed in action since Wimbledon due to repetitive injury issues, but came back to play during the Billie Jean King Cup finals, where she played a competitive three-setter, lost by a margin to Elina Svitolina. Badosa played a very good first set against the 22-year-old Croatian and even despite being down a break twice in the second one, she delivered the straight sets victory with just 12 pressure points faced on serve that day.
The match between Amanda Anisimova and Katie Boulter was one of the most anticipated ones between two well-known names on Friday. Anisimova played her first match since the run to the final in Flushing Meadows and got the job done well. The American made the most of her chances in the first set, breaking the Brit twice and averted the threat with break points saved in two games. The new world number 4 raised the intensity even more in the second set, being a dominant force and expectedly winning by 6-1 6-3 over Boulter who lost her 12th out of 20 matches played on hard courts this season.
The Beijing champion from last year Coco Gauff moved past Kamilla Rakhimova with a 6-4 6-0 victory. The second seed played a tough first set, facing danger in two games with 8 break chances produced by her opponent in summary. Gauff came out of it, defending all break points and won that erratic set with one break despite 4 double faults committed. The second one was a much better display of play from the world number three, who was super aggressive on second serve return (83%) and fought through long and scrappy games on both sides, sealing the first victory on the road to title defense with a bagel.
Hon eliminates Ostapenko
Jelena Ostapenko continues her miserable run of form, getting upset by the world number 108 - Priscilla Hon. It's her second consecutive early exit after being upset by a lower ranked opponent and 7th defeat faced in the last 10 matches played by the Latvian. Ostapenko had a promising start to the season, being a runner-up in Doha and winning the WTA 500 event in Stuttgart on clay, defeating both Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka on the road to the title. She has won just 6 out of 16 matches played since then, displaying erratic play in most of the matches. The same happened on Friday, when the Australian came back from 0-3 down to win 9 consecutive games full of easy unforced errors committed by the world number 24. Ostapenko came back level on serve in the second set for a while, but Hon did not discourage herself and continued the steady run to make an upset rated with an average pre-match odd of 2.43.
Saturday's preview
Top half seeds come into action on Saturday. The Chinese players will appear in featured matches of the day in front of the home crowd. Qinwen Zheng plays her first match since Wimbledon, coming back to competition after the elbow injury. The world number 9 defends a lot of points in the Asian swing due to her great results achieved last year, including the semifinal in Beijing. She plays against Emiliana Arango in the second round. The Colombian has an interesting storyline of the season, as she achieved two finals of WTA 500 played in Mexico and those were her only 8 matches won on hard courts on the main tour before the first round's victory over Suzan Lamens. The Colombian was already a lucky loser from qualifiers, having lost one match in Beijing this week.
The other Chinese players will try to make upsets over top ranked players. The top seed Iga Swiatek plays against world number 110 - Yue Yuan. 4th seed Mirra Andreeva meets Lin Zhu, who is building back her ranking, being currently in the 3rd century of the WTA list. Zhu was already in the round of 16 in Montreal in August.
The sensational winner from the Canadian Open comes back to action. The form of Victoria Mboko is a question mark, as the youngster has played just one match after her victorious run on home soil, getting defeated by Barbora Krejcikova in the first round of the US Open. Her kick-off match against former world number 21 - Anastasia Potapova, can be a challenging one. The encounter between Diana Shnaider and Maya Joint is also a match to watch. Shnaider was a champion in Monterrey, Joint won in Eastbourne and made it to the semifinals in Seoul. Both succeeded in recent months, but are still yet to prove their consistency over a longer period.
