BEIJING — Great Britain's Sonay Kartal continued her winning return to the WTA Tour with a commanding 6-3 6-2 victory over China's 31st seed Wang Xinyu at the China Open, while men's top seed Alexander Zverev cruised past China's Juncheng Shang 6-0 6-3 to book a quarter-final against Novak Djokovic on Sunday in Beijing.
Kartal, 24, was playing only her second tour match after six months out with a back injury and delivered a clinical display. She struck 12 winners against just 11 unforced errors, compared to 24 from Wang, and converted five of 14 break points. "I am super happy to play here and I think that shows in my tennis," Kartal said in her on-court interview, recalling her run to last year's quarter-final. "I've had a long time out but I am happy to make a return to this event - I am looking to equal or hopefully do better this year."
The 24-year-old had made the quarter-finals in Beijing in 2025 but slipped to 129 in the world after missing the majority of this season, including the past three Grand Slam tournaments, after retiring injured from a last-16 clash against Elena Rybakina at Indian Wells in March. She did not return until last month's Billie Jean King Cup Finals before beating Spain's Andrea Lazaro Garcia on her tour return. She had been expected to face newly crowned world number one Rybakina in the last 32, but the top seed and US Open champion from Kazakhstan fell 6-3 4-6 3-6 to Armenian world number 118 Alina Charaeva, who had never before faced a top 20 player. Fellow Briton Harriet Dart, the 30-year-old qualifier, also exited after an encouraging 2-6 6-3 6-3 defeat to American 10th seed Iva Jovic, 18, despite claiming three breaks to take the opening set.
Zverev, 29, maintained his fine form in a season that has seen the German win his first two Grand Slam titles at the French Open and US Open. The victory sets up a tantalising meeting with Djokovic, 39, who has won the China Open six times and has never lost a match at the event. Zverev has never topped the men's world rankings but will rise to number one for the first time if he wins both the China Open and the Shanghai Masters, which starts on Wednesday (7 October). His chances were boosted Saturday when current world number one Jannik Sinner withdrew from Shanghai while recovering from a knee injury, having not played since beating Zverev in the final at Wimbledon in July. Sinner took the top spot in April from Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, who returned from four months out with a wrist injury at the US Open in September.
World number three Alcaraz advanced to the quarter-finals of the Japan Open in Tokyo on Saturday, saving four set points in the opener against Italy's Matteo Arnaldi before powering back to win 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 following his comeback from 2-6 down. He will next play Canada's Denis Shapovalov, who defeated Chile's Alejandro Tabilo 7-5 3-6 6-4.