Beijing’s 96-player China Open draw has produced a rapid run of first-week highlights, with Sara Bejlek, Karolina Muchova, Linda Noskova, Ekaterina Alexandrova and 16-year-old Sun Xinran all supplying standout points in the early matches.
Bejlek makes a memorable Beijing debut
Bejlek combined speed, touch and clean finishing in her straight-sets victory over Maddison Inglis, winning 6-3, 7-5.
- With a 4-2 advantage in the opening set, Bejlek sprinted into position and lifted a cross-court forehand lob that dropped inside the baseline.
- At the start of the second set, she used a drop shot after a long exchange to draw Inglis forward.
- When Inglis returned the ball short over the net, Bejlek moved in to finish with a forehand winner.
Muchova and Noskova deliver Czech artistry
Muchova produced one of the week’s most inventive exchanges in her 7-6 (3), 6-1 defeat of Katie Boulter. Level at 3-3 in the first-set tiebreak, Muchova dealt with a deep return by turning through a full 360 degrees and scooping the ball back into play.
Boulter reached the recovery shot and redirected it towards the sideline, but Muchova had anticipated the reply. She moved into the doubles alley and threaded an angled passing winner before taking the tiebreak and then dominating the second set.
Noskova also used the lob to decisive effect against Elena-Gabriela Ruse in a 6-4, 6-1 win.
- At 2-0 and 15-all in the first set, Noskova brought Ruse forward with a drop shot, then struck a short-hop lob which landed close to the baseline.
- Later, leading 3-0, she ran down the ball and sent a forehand lob beyond Ruse’s raised racquet.
Alexandrova finds touch, Sun announces herself
Alexandrova opened her match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich with a pair of delicately struck forehand flicks. On advantage in the first game, she curled a cross-court winner over the net, then repeated the tactic later in the set at 4-0, 30-15.
Sun, the junior world No. 1 and US Open girls’ champion, gave the Beijing crowd an immediate glimpse of her range in her first WTA appearance against Eva Lys.
- Leading 2-1 in the first set, Sun ended a demanding 22-ball rally with a drop-shot winner after a prolonged baseline exchange.
- Three games later, she finished an even longer, 23-shot point by driving a backhand into the corner.
- Sun held a 6-1, 3-0 lead when Lys retired because of a foot injury.
The five sequences captured the variety already emerging from Beijing’s crowded draw: defensive improvisation from Muchova, measured lob placement from Noskova, fine touch from Alexandrova and Bejlek, and the power-touch blend of China’s teenage prospect Sun.
