There’s plenty at stake at the China Open, the second-to-last WTA 1000 tournament of the season.

A final chance to win a statement title, 1,000 rankings points and qualification into the year-end WTA Finals in Riyadh.

This week in Beijing has had a bit of everything: epic tiebreaks, dream runs from under-the-radar players, nicknames and gifts galore from some of the most passionate fans on Earth and some clarity as the season enters its final stretch.

But as is the case with almost every WTA 1000 tournament, boasting a 96-player draw and the top players in the world, there’s bound to be some chaos. And there was certainly plenty of chaos on Wednesday, with both Mirra Andreeva and Iga Swiatek getting knocked out in the fourth round. 

For those who have been following along — and, particularly, those who haven’t (you know who you are) — we present Courtside Changeover, a look at the week that was and a sneak peek of what’s coming up. 

Week 1 Superlatives
The Match of the Week

There were so many epics this week; it’s painful to pick just one. But we’ll go with the never-ending first round match between Maria Sakkari and Ashlyn Krueger. Sakkari led 5-2 in the first, but needed four set points to take the set in a tiebreak. She was two points from victory in the next set, up 5-4, before letting it slip away in a tiebreak, and then came from 4-2 down in the decider to win 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5. At 3 hours and 29 minutes, it was the third-longest match on the Hologic WTA Tour in 2025.

Sakkari overcomes Krueger in 3:29 Beijing epic; third-longest match of 2025

Honorable mention goes to Lois Boisson’s three-set win over Dalma Galfi, which lasted 3 hours and 24 minutes.

The Breakthrough

We all knew that Eva Lys could play, but it’s been a monumental week for the 23-year-old German, who upset eighth-seeded Elena Rybakina in the third round. 

It was Lys’ first career Top 10 win, and the first time she’d reached the fourth round of a WTA 1000 tournament.

She followed that up with a come-from-behind win over McCartney Kessler to advance to the quarterfinals. 

Not to be outdone, Britain’s Sonay Kartal followed suit on Wednesday by upsetting fourth-seeded Andreeva, earning her first career Top 10 win and WTA 1000 quarterfinal.

The Point(s) of the Tournament (So Far…)

Ugh, don’t make us choose. We could have probably selected five or six different points here, but we’re going to go with these brilliant all-court rallies from Emma Raducanu. (More on her below.)

Hot shots: Two breathtaking all-court rallies by Emma Raducanu in Beijing

Want more all-world shots? Check out the hottest hot shots from Beijing here. 

The Tiebreak of the Week

This has been a particularly strong week for climactic tiebreaks, but we’ll go with Amanda Anisimova’s 13-11 triumph — which gave her the first set — in her third-round win over China’s Shuai Zhang. 

Anisimova took control early in the tiebreak, building quick leads of 4-0, 5-1 and 6-2. But Zhang fought her way back, and the two players subsequently let nine set points slip away (five for Anisimova, four for Zhang). 

But the US Open finalist’s forehand made the difference in the end. At 11-11, she struck one that was too big for Zhang to handle, and the World No. 4 fired a winner down the line to finally end the set.

The ensuing set was far less dramatic, with the American dominating 6-0 to advance to the fourth round.

The Comeback of the Week

Speaking of tiebreaks, how about Jessica Pegula fending off three match points from Raducanu in a second-set tiebreak that ended 11-9? It was a sad case of déjà vu for Raducanu, who let three match points slip away a week earlier against Barbora Krejcikova in Seoul. (She led 5-2 in that tiebreak, too.)

Like Anisimova, Pegula harnessed her post-tiebreak momentum to the tune of 6-0 in the deciding set, moving onto the fourth round.

Watch: Pegula’s Beijing second-set tiebreak comeback vs. Raducanu in full

Numbers Don’t Lie
Iga Keeps Making History

On the heels of her title in Seoul, and in pursuit of Aryna Sabalenka’s World No. 1 ranking, Swiatek looked awfully sharp out of the gate in Beijing.

Her third-round win over Camila Osorio was a breeze, albeit an unfortunate one as the Colombian retired halfway through the match with an abdominal injury. But before Osorio’s early exit, the six-time Grand Slam champion took the first set 6-0, her 17th 6-0 set of 2025 (10 more than Ekaterina Alexandrova, who’s won seven).

That win was also the 400th of Swiatek’s career, and she’s now the first player in WTA Tour history to win 25+ matches at WTA 1000 events in three consecutive seasons.

Not bad.

Anisimova Makes History of Her Own

The two-time major finalist has now won 150 WTA Tour-level matches for her career, becoming just the third player — joining Swiatek and Coco Gauff — born after 2000 to reach that milestone. 

The Hard Court Queen

Speaking of Coco, her three-set win over Leylah Fernandez in the third round was her 150th career victory on hard courts. At just 21, she’s the youngest player to hit that mark on this surface since Caroline Wozniacki in 2011.

Our Favorite Quotes of the Week

Like every player, Gauff has been enamored with the fan support in Beijing. She was given a pair of nicknames by fans, Fruit Salad Queen and Ambassador of Beijing, but she couldn’t help but wonder if they could perhaps come up with something cooler (and slightly more intimidating). This was her request … err … challenge.

“I guess I have a challenge for the Chinese fans. I would like to know what animal resonates with me. I mean, fruit salad is cool, but I think being named after an animal is cooler. I would like to see what animal they think I am.”

We also dug Lin Zhu opening up about what’s in the notebook that she reads during matches. (It’s part love, part analysis, part motivation.)

“It has some scribbles from my husband. Opponents’ stats. Some encouraging words from my husband. How to adjust my mentality. Just some encouraging messages. If I’m not clear enough, I will just look at the notebook to look at these reminders so I can be focused in the match. Yes, it’s all from my husband.”

OK, last one. We couldn’t leave this one out. This is Shuai Zhang on what she loves the most about the China Open: the food. And she didn’t just say she loves it. She went in-depth on how good it is, and how important it is for her game and psyche. 

“I feel the big difference [is] restaurants. So good, the food. Other tournament, normally I’m not going to the player restaurant because every tournament similar because so healthy. But the Chinese food is more taste, more heavy. I like so much. I have to find Chinese restaurant of the world. Here we can eat everything I want. Every day they change. They change menu. Some tournament every day same, same, same. From [qualification] to the final, you have to stay there three weeks in the Grand Slam. You couldn’t eat every day same, you know?

“Here, oh my God, before the match, I eat a big dinner. During the match, even three set, I still feeling full so I have full energy. I know I can beat her because I am still full energy, you know? Very important for player what you eat. I mean, healthy very important, but what you like more important — for me.”

The Early Exits

Tough losses for Naomi Osaka and Victoria Mboko, who dropped their opening matches. Osaka had been riding high this summer, winning 11 of 13 matches en route to the final in Montreal and the semifinals of the US Open. 

As for 19-year-old Mboko — who defeated Osaka in that Montreal final — it’s her second straight opening-round loss after falling to Krejcikova (no shame there) in the first round in New York.

It was also very tough to see Paula Badosa retire midway through her third-round match against Karolina Muchova with a left hip injury. The World No. 18, who defeated Antonia Ruzic in her opening match, was playing her first WTA tournament since Wimbledon.

So, too, was Qinwen Zheng, who returned to the tour in Beijing after being sidelined after undergoing elbow surgery. She looked strong in her opening match, beating Emiliana Arango in straights, before having to retire from her next match, in the decider, against Linda Noskova. It was again the elbow that forced her to stop. The World No. 9 is scheduled to undergo some tests and is hopeful that the injury continues to improve with time. Fingers crossed that she recovers quickly and we see her back on court soon.

The Players LOVE Playing in Beijing (+ Playing for These Fans)

The crowd. The nicknames. The gifts.

The players soak it all in during this tournament, making for a truly memorable experience. But don’t take our word for it. This is just some of the love they’ve given back to the Chinese fans this week:

Gauff has also called the Chinese fans “the best, most creative fans,” and Swiatek added that “the support is amazing, I think the biggest that I get on the whole tour. I don’t really know why, but people are really nice. I really appreciate that.”

Coco Punches Her Ticket 

Though it didn’t come as a huge surprise, Gauff officially qualified for the WTA Finals in Riyadh after her impressive fourth-round win over Belinda Bencic, joining Sabalenka and Swiatek in the year-end field. 

The defending champion in Beijing, Gauff has admitted that she feels less pressure during this swing of the season, post-Grand Slams, and she’s been cool and collected in back-to-back three-set wins over Fernandez and Bencic. It’s been an encouraging week following her earlier-than-expected exit in New York, and she’ll play Lys next for a spot in the semis. 

Looking Ahead to the Quarters

The quarterfinals are officially set. Down to the final eight in Beijing, here’s how the draw has shaken out.

Emma Navarro [16] vs. Jessica Pegula [5]

Sonay Kartal vs. Linda Noskova [26]

Jasmine Paolini [6] vs. Amanda Anisimova [3]

Eva Lys vs. Coco Gauff [2]

Which Brings Us To This Question…

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