Kartal returns from injury to win; Zverev sets Djokovic quarter-final

British tennis player Sonay Kartal earned her second consecutive victory at the China Open in Beijing on Saturday, defeating Chinese 31st seed Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-2 in the second round. Kartal, 24, produced a clinical performance with 12 winners and just 11 unforced errors while converting five of her 14 break point opportunities. The victory marked a significant milestone in her return to competitive tennis following a six-month absence due to a back injury that had caused her ranking to drop to 129th in the world.

Kartal had not played since retiring injured at Indian Wells in March and made her tour comeback at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals last month before competing at the China Open. She had reached the quarter-finals at this event in 2025 and expressed optimism about her prospects. After beating Spain's Andrea Lazaro Garcia in her first China Open match, Kartal's win over Wang set up a potential meeting with newly crowned world number one Elena Rybakina in the last 32. However, Rybakina, the US Open champion, was upset in a shock three-set defeat 6-3, 4-6, 3-6 by unseeded Armenian player Alina Charaeva, ranked 118th in the world, who had never previously faced a top 20 WTA player.

In the men's draw, top seed Alexander Zverev advanced to the quarter-finals with a dominant 6-0, 6-3 victory over China's Juncheng Shang, setting up a match against 39-year-old Novak Djokovic on Sunday. The quarter-final carries significant implications for Zverev, who could claim the world number one ranking for the first time in his career if he wins both the China Open and the Shanghai Masters, which begins on October 7. Zverev has won two Grand Slam titles this season—the French Open and US Open. Djokovic has won the China Open six times and has never lost a match at the Beijing event, but Zverev's path to number one was strengthened when current world number one Jannik Sinner withdrew from the Shanghai Masters due to a knee injury.

British qualifier Harriet Dart competed in the women's draw, losing a three-set match 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to American 10th seed Iva Jovic, 18, despite taking an early lead with three breaks of serve in the opening set. Elsewhere in tennis, world number three Carlos Alcaraz advanced through the Japan Open quarter-finals in Tokyo, saving four set points in the first set before defeating Italy's Matteo Arnaldi 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.