On October 4th, Beijing time, the third match of the women's singles quarterfinals of the China Open, Sabalenka vs. Mukhova, this is definitely a highly anticipated decisive battle, I believe many fans hope that Mukhova can eliminate Sabalenka, and finally Mukhova was upset, defeating Sabalenka 2-1 and miraculously reaching the semifinals.
Prior to that, the two had met three times, with Mukhova leading 2-1, and she is one of the few women in today's women's tennis world who can dominate Sabalenka. In this match, Mukhova was indeed tenacious, and she gritted her teeth to eliminate Sabalenka.
In the first set, Sabalenka served in the first game, and Mukhova once led 40-15, but then Sabalenka overturned and held serve. After that, the two continued to fight each other, and both sides rarely made mistakes. In the first 12 games, both of them held serve, and the score came to 6-6, entering the tie-break, and finally Mukhova won 7-5 (7-6 in the set), leading 1-0 on aggregate.
I don't know if it was too intense in the first set, Mukhova's physical strength began to decline, and in the third game of the second set, Mukhova was broken on her serve, and the situation was very unfavorable. In the seventh game, Mukhova was broken again, and the score was 2-5 down, and it was difficult for her to turn the game around, and finally Sabalenka won 6-2, and the overall score became 1-1. In this game, Sabalenka was very excited, and the quality of the serve was so strong that it was against the sky, as if every cell in her body had been ignited by her, such Sabalenka was really terrible.
In the third set, Mukhova served in the first game, but was quickly broken by Sabalenka, and Mukhova fell into passivity at the beginning. Although in the fourth game, Mukhova broke at one point and chased the score to 2-2, but in the fifth game, she was immediately broken by Sabalenka. Unexpectedly, in the 8th game, Mukhova successfully broke back, and the score between the two sides came to 4-4. After that, Mukhova held serve and led 5-4. In the 10th game, Mukhova made persistent efforts and finally broke serve, reversed her opponent 6-4, and eliminated Sabalenka with a score of 2-1 and advanced to the top 4 of the Chinese Open.
As of the deadline for this article, three places have been determined for the top 4 women's singles at this year's China Open. In addition to Mukhova, Gauff and Badosa also made the cut. Next, Zheng Qinwen will face Mira Andreyeva, and if Zheng can defeat her opponent, she will reach the semi-finals of the Chinese Open for the first time in her career.
With Sabalenka's exit, the pattern of women's singles at this year's China Open has changed dramatically. However, this result is also good for Zheng Qinwen, if she can defeat Mira Andreeva, then in the semifinals against Mukhova, there is definitely a chance to defeat her opponent and reach the final of the Chinese Open in history!