Beijing: Alexandrova Beats Noskova to Reach Last Eight

Ekaterina Alexandrova has reached the quarterfinals of the China Open, the WTA 1000 event in Beijing, in the cleanest way possible: in the round of 16 she beat Linda Noskova, the fifth seed and last year's runner-up, 6-2 6-2. According to the WTA, the Russian did not drop a single service game in one hour and six minutes.

It is Alexandrova's first time in the last eight in Beijing. At 31, she is the oldest player to reach a maiden quarterfinal at this tournament, a fact highlighted by the WTA itself. It is also her 22nd career win over a Top 10 player.

For Noskova the defeat also hurts in the rankings. In 2025 the Czech lost the final to Amanda Anisimova 6-0 2-6 6-2, and the 650 points given to the runner-up come off with the 2026 edition. The round of 16 is worth 120, so the math is simple, and her way back runs through the remaining tournaments of the season.

Alexandrova's run in Beijing has built steadily. In the second round she beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1 6-4. In the third she faced Diana Shnaider, the 11th seed, and won in a comeback, 3-6 6-4 6-3, recovering from a set and 2-0 down. Then came the match against Noskova, the most straightforward of her week.

The numbers on the site's player page describe a player full of confidence. Alexandrova is now No. 23 in the WTA rankings with 2,025 live points, 214 more than at the start of the tournament. Ahead of her is Madison Keys, No. 22, by just 4 points. She has won seven of her last ten matches. If she wins the quarterfinal she will reach 2,200, and if she won the title she would climb to 2,810.

Alexandrova's 2025 season, in the top-level tournaments tracked by the site, ended with 46 wins, 23 losses and one title. Over the next six weeks she has 430 points to defend, one more reason to make the most of the week in China and bank points ahead of the end of the year.

On Thursday, October 8, her opponent will be Mirra Andreeva, the world No. 5 with 5,936 points and only 19 years old. In the last 16 the Russian beat Daria Snigur 6-2 6-2, after a 6-4 6-1 win over Polina Kudermetova and a 3-6 6-0 6-0 win over Yue Yuan, a match that started badly and ended with twelve straight games in her favor. If she wins the quarterfinal, her live points will go from 5,936 to 6,111.

The head-to-head is entirely on Alexandrova's side: she leads 2-0, with wins in Stuttgart in 2025 and Bad Homburg in 2026. Andreeva is well aware of it. "Well, one thing I do know for sure, I didn't beat her yet", she said ahead of the match, adding that she would try her best to finally get that first win, as reported by the WTA.

Alexandrova, for her part, does not want to be weighed down by records. Speaking about reaching the quarterfinals, she explained: "When you thinking about that, it's create more pressure on yourself", a line reported by the WTA. A practical approach: fewer statistics, more points played with a light head.

Andreeva arrives with a very solid season. According to the WTA she has 48 wins this year, a career high, and only Jessica Pegula with 50 and Elena Rybakina with 49 are ahead of her. The match against Alexandrova will be her 11th WTA quarterfinal of 2026 and her second in Beijing, after the one she lost to Qinwen Zheng in 2024. Her 2025, in the site's data, closed with 39 wins, 16 losses and two titles.

The other quarterfinal will pit Karolina Muchova against Nikola Bartunkova. Bartunkova is the player of the week: she eliminated Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 6-3, after a 6-2 6-2 win over Magdalena Frech, and in the last 16 she got past Sinja Kraus 6-0 4-6 6-3. Muchova, the 2024 runner-up against Coco Gauff, beat Katie Boulter 7-6(3) 6-1 and then Liudmila Samsonova 4-6 6-4 6-2.

The week in Beijing has been marked by surprises. Alina Charaeva, ranked No. 118, beat Rybakina, the world No. 1 for just a few days and top seed, 3-6 6-4 6-3 in two hours and eleven minutes. According to the WTA, she is the lowest-ranked player to come back from a set down against a world No. 1. "I was just trying to stay really hard mentally and keep believing that at some point I could turn it around again to my side", Charaeva said. She then beat Sonay Kartal 6-4 6-1 and plays Zheng in the last 16 on Wednesday.

The tournament in numbers: 152 matches played, 33 tie-breaks, 54 matches that went to a deciding set and 11 sets that ended 6-0. The longest match by games played is Zheng versus Marie Bouzkova, won by the Chinese player 7-6(3) 4-6 7-5 in 35 games. The recent roll of honor lists Anisimova in 2025, Gauff in 2024 and Iga Swiatek in 2023.

On Wednesday, October 7, the round of 16 is completed: Iva Jovic faces Swiatek, Gauff plays Elise Mertens, Charaeva takes on Zheng and Ann Li meets Elina Svitolina. The winners will join Alexandrova, Andreeva, Muchova and Bartunkova in the final eight.

From here the tournament awards 215 points for the quarterfinals, 390 for the semifinals, 650 for the final and 1,000 for the title. For Alexandrova the match against Andreeva is worth much more than a simple step: it is a chance to continue a special week and to test once again the young Russian, who has never taken a match off her.