Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime experienced a disappointing exit from the Shanghai Masters as he fell to France’s Arthur Rinderknech in the quarterfinals with a score of 6-3, 6-4. Auger-Aliassime, seeded 12th, delivered eight aces but struggled with three double faults, all occurring in the initial set. Rinderknech, ranked 54th globally, showcased strong performance by winning 83% of points on his first serve, surpassing Auger-Aliassime’s 64%. The French player managed to break Auger-Aliassime’s serve once in each set and successfully defended all three break points against him. This marked Rinderknech’s third consecutive victory over a top-20 opponent in Shanghai, with the match lasting one hour and 28 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a different event in China, Bianca Andreescu from Mississauga, Ont., and her partner, Yue Yuan of China, were eliminated in the women’s doubles quarterfinals at the Wuhan Open, losing 6-4, 7-6 (1) to Aleksandra Krunic and Anna Danilina. Novak Djokovic from Serbia is set to face Valentin Vacherot from Monaco in the other semifinal matchup.
In Wuhan, Aryna Sabalenka continued her remarkable winning streak to 20 matches by defeating eighth-seeded Elena Rybakina 6-3, 6-3 in the WTA 1000-level tournament’s quarterfinals. Sabalenka, the U.S. Open champion, has previously claimed the Wuhan Open title in 2018, ’19, and last year. She broke Rybakina’s serve three times during the match that lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes, securing a spot in the semifinals for the 11th time this season. Sabalenka expressed her appreciation for the competitive battles against Rybakina, noting her opponent always pushes her to her limits. Next, Sabalenka will face Jessica Pegula, who managed a comeback victory against Katerina Siniakova in a three-set match earlier. Pegula has recently defeated No. 9 Ekaterina Alexandrova and Hailey Baptiste, showcasing her resilient performance. Additionally, in other quarterfinal matches, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff were set to compete against Jasmine Paolini and Laura Siegemund, respectively.