Beijing, Oct 3 (IANS) World No. 118 Alina Charaeva rallied from a set down to upset newly-crowned World No.1 in WTA Rankings, Elena Rybakina, in three sets in the women’s section of the China Open in Beijing on Saturday night.
Charaeva defeated Rybakina 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in 2 hours and 11 minutes in the night match.
Since the rankings were first published in 1975, Charaeva is just the ninth player outside the Top 100 to defeat the World No. 1 and the lowest-ranked player to claim a comeback win against the World No. 1.
“It’s kind of a dream come true,” Charaeva said in her post-match interview. “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.”
Playing just her 17th tour-level main-draw match, the 24-year-old far surpassed the best win of her career. Her previous top-ranked victory came against No. 31 Wang Xinyu earlier this year. With the upset, Charaeva advanced to the third round of the China Open, where she will face Sonay Kartal for the first time.
It also sets the stage for a potential Top 100 debut, a mission that would be aided by a win in her next match. It would be the latest in a string of accomplishments this season for Charaeva, who won her first WTA 125 title in Midland in February and reached her first two tour-level quarterfinals in Hamburg and Sao Paulo.
Meanwhile, China’s Zheng Qinwen advanced to the third round of the China Open after Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya retired while trailing 3-0 in the deciding set.
Playing in front of a packed Diamond Court, Zheng earned the first break in the eighth game of the opening set, but Kalinskaya immediately broke back. Neither player could gain another advantage before Kalinskaya took the tiebreak to win the set 7-6 (4).
With daylight fading and conditions becoming colder and windier, Olympic champion Zheng found her rhythm in the second set, using her powerful serve to take it 6-4 and force a decider, reports Xinhua.
Zheng broke early in the third set and moved 1-0 ahead before the 27-year-old Kalinskaya called for a medical timeout. The Russian continued briefly before retiring with Zheng leading 3-0.
“Kalinskaya returns very fast and flat, and her backhand is quite strong. So, the first set was not easy for me as I missed some break points and got a little bit emotional,” Zheng said.
“In the third set, I adjusted myself to take a three-game lead. I believe I can win, though seeing her withdraw from the match is not the result that I expected.”
–IANS
bsk/