Sabalenka, Rybakina handed shock defeats at China Open tennis

The Australian women's tennis scene at the China Open has been significantly reduced to a single singles player following the recent second-round exits of Kimberly Birrell and Storm Hunter. Birrell, currently ranked 41st in the world, suffered a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Czech player Marie Bouzkova in Beijing. The 28-year-old, who recently won the Korea Open, led 3-1 in the first set before losing serve twice in the second set and ultimately losing the match.

Bouzkova will now face China's Zheng Qinwen in the next round. Hunter, the 182nd-ranked player and former doubles world number one, was also eliminated by Greece's Maria Sakkari, who defeated her in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in just 73 minutes. Sakkari, who is currently ranked 25th, will face Elina Svitolina in the next round. The most surprising outcome of the day, however, was the early exit of newly crowned world number one Elena Rybakina, who lost to unseeded Alina Charaeva 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round.

This marked the first loss for Rybakina since winning the US Open title last month. Other notable winners at the tournament include third seed Coco Gauff, eighth seed Iga Swiatek, 21st seed Ann Li, and 24th seed Jelena Ostapenko.