Meet Alina Charaeva: The breakout player turning heads in Beijing

Alina Charaeva has introduced herself to the tennis world this week in Beijing.

The 24-year-old stunned top seed and newly minted world No. 1 Elena Rybakina in a three-set upset in the second round of the China Open, a victory that even Charaeva is still trying to comprehend. She followed it up in the next round with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Sonay Kartal to reach the Round of 16 for the first time at a WTA 1000 event. All after coming through qualifying. 

“Even though a couple days have passed already, I’m still in the process of realizing what happened,” Charaeva said of her upset of Rybakina, which made her just the second player to defeat a newly crowned World No. 1 in her first match at the top spot. “You know, I beat the world No. 1.”

“I still think that this is insane, and I can’t believe it,” she said. “I’m really happy that I could bring my best tennis. It was really special for me.”

The belief, however, was there long before the China Open.

Charaeva has been patient. She has trusted the process, trusted the people around her and, most important, trusted herself.

“I said so many times to believe in myself,” Charaeva said.

The 24-year-old competes under the Armenian flag, and is turning plenty of heads in Beijing. But her emergence didn’t happen overnight. It has taken years of trusting her coach, Carlos Martinez-Comet, who has worked with her for eight years, dating back to her time at his academy in Spain.

“When I was 13, I moved to Spain,” Charaeva said.

Charaeva knows how fortunate she is to have spent so much of her development under Martinez-Comet’s guidance.

“For me, it’s the biggest opportunity to work with such a great coach,” she said.

And Martinez-Comet has his own way of trusting the process. He is superstitious, particularly when it comes to what he eats before Charaeva’s matches.

“He’s like, ‘No, no, no. I’m gonna eat the same rice with chicken, rice with chicken, rice with chicken,’” Charaeva said.

Martinez-Comet isn’t the only person in Charaeva’s corner. Her family played an important role in helping her develop as a player, too.

Charaeva grew up in a busy household, with her parents often working and trying to find a place for her to go while they were on the clock.

“All my family was working a lot,” Charaeva said. “They didn’t know where to put me.”

When her mother wasn’t working, she would bring Charaeva to the tennis club. It was there that Charaeva first learned to play the sport.

Her family’s support, combined with her natural physical advantages, helped Charaeva begin to find her way as a young player. She quickly realized she was bigger, taller and stronger than many of the kids she played against.

As she got older, those advantages began turning into results.

Charaeva began to see professional tennis as a possibility when she was invited to play for her country’s national team. As the wins began to pile up, so did her belief that she could make a career out of tennis.

“I started to win tournaments,” Charaeva said. “Let’s try to give this a shot and let’s see how it’s gonna be.”

College programs also began reaching out, but Charaeva felt her success at the junior level was telling her something. She had a strong junior ranking and believed she was ready to test herself against older, more experienced competition.

“I had a good ranking during my junior years,” Charaeva said. “I always knew at some point I would play at a higher level.”

Now, in Beijing, Charaeva is getting her chance to prove it.

The World No. 118 has already beaten the World No. 1 and now gets a shot at China's hero Zheng Qinwen for a spot in the WTA 1000 quarterfinals.

No matter what happens, she's given herself a week she won’t soon forget. 

By Dominic Achille