Sonay Kartal Advances at China Open, Zverev to Face Djokovic

Great Britain's Sonay Kartal has reached the last 32 of the China Open in Beijing following a strong performance on her return to tour play. Kartal, who had slipped to world number 129 after missing much of the season, including the past three Grand Slam tournaments, secured a comfortable win over Spain's Lazaro Garcia and followed that with a decisive victory over Wang.

Kartal produced 12 winners and made only 11 unforced errors against Wang, converting five of her 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. She recalled her run to the quarter-finals at the same event in 2025 and expressed her goal to "equal or hopefully do better this year."

Kartal's progression means she was set to face Elena Rybakina, but the US Open champion was defeated by unseeded Charaeva. In other British play, Harriet Dart, a qualifier, showed encouraging form in a three-set loss to American 10th seed Iva Jovic. Dart won the opening set before losing 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to the 18-year-old.

Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev advanced to a quarter-final clash with Novak Djokovic. Zverev, who has won his first two Grand Slam titles this year, is aiming for a career-first world number one ranking. His chances were bolstered by the withdrawal of current world number one Jannik Sinner from the upcoming Shanghai Masters due to a knee injury.

Carlos Alcaraz, who returned from a wrist injury at the US Open, reached the quarter-finals of the Japan Open in Tokyo. Alcaraz saved four set points in the opening set against Matteo Arnaldi before winning 7-6 (8-6), 6-1. He is scheduled to play Denis Shapovalov next.