Day 7 preview: Women’s Round of 16 begins

The China Open women’s bracket has opened up after a pair of major upsets sent the top two seeds packing. The door to the title is suddenly unlocked as the Round of 16 begins Tuesday.

Top-seeded Elena Rybakina fell to Alina Charaeva and second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka lost to Nikola Bartunkova in the first week of the tournament. 

Bartunkova looks to continue her run against the Austrian Sinja Kraus on Tuesday. 

The Czech rolled by Sabalenka in two sets in the third round. Bartunkova beat Kraus in their only match in Germany last year. Kraus came through Dayana Yastremska in two sets in her previous match.  

A blockbuster match awaits No. 12 seed Naomi Osaka (12), as she will face her second Czech opponent in a row, going against seventh-seeded Karolina Muchova. 

Osaka, the former No. 1 and 2019 China Open champion, defeated Sara Bejlek in her previous match in two tight sets. Muchova, a 2024. finalist in Beijing, came back from a set down against Liudmila Samsonova to win her Round of 32 match. 

READ MORE: 5 Questions with Naomi Osaka

Muchova beat Osaka in the Wimbledon quarterfinals earlier this year on the way to her second grand slam final of her career. The Czech leads their head-to-head 4-3. 

"I played Muchova in the quarters of Wimby, which sucked for me but great for her,” Osaka said, laughing."I mean, she's an amazing player. She's someone that you know is very dangerous no matter what. She could pretty much beat anybody."

The winner of that match will face the Bartunkova-Kraus winner in the quarterfinals.

No. 4 seed Mirra Andreeva will take on unseeded Daria Snigur, who dominated her last match, 6-1, 6-0 against Taylah Preston. Andreeva dropped her first set in Beijing to Yuan Yue, before winning her next four sets of the tournament and only dropping five games in the process. This will be Andreeva’s first meeting with Snigur. 

READ MORE: 5 Questions with Mirra Andreeva

Fifth-seeded Linda Noskova, the reigning Wimbledon champion, will face Ekaterina Alexandrova in the pair’s third meeting on tour, with them splitting the first two matchups. Noskova won their most recent battle in a straightforward match earlier this year in Stuttgart.  

READ MORE: 5 Questions with Linda Noskova

A potential battle between reigning Grand Slam champions remains in the cards. The Andreeva-Snigur winner will face the Noskova-Alexandrova winner, setting up a possible clash between the Roland Garros champion Andreeva and Wimbledon champion Noskova.

By Ellis von Fintel