Sabalenka, Rybakina handed shock defeats at China Open tennis

The Belarusian’s exit follows top seed Rybakina losing to unseeded Charaeva in her first match as world number one.Published On 4 Oct 20264 Oct 2026Aryna Sabalenka was swatted aside in straight sets by 34th-ranked Nikola Bartunkova in the third round of the China Open, leaving the event without its top two seeds as world number one Elena Rybakina was ousted in the second round.Czech player Bartunkova, 20, sent down four aces to beat the former world number one 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 35 minutes on Sunday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4World No 1 Sinner withdraws from Shanghai Masters as knee injury lingerslist 2 of 4‘So far so good’: Novak Djokovic ready for tennis comeback at China Openlist 3 of 4Asian Games: Alex Eala out of gold medal contention after semifinal losslist 4 of 4Protests disrupt Ireland football match with ‘Palestine tennis balls’end of list“I focused on myself, to be calm,” Bartunkova said.“She’s a legend … so I’m really happy that I won the match,” she said of the four-time Grand Slam champion.Bartunkova next faces Austria’s Sinja Kraus in the round of 16.Second-seeded Sabalenka squandered five chances to break serve in the sixth game of the first...