Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime suffered a defeat in the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters, losing 6-3, 6-4 to France’s Arthur Rinderknech. Despite firing eight aces, Auger-Aliassime struggled with three double faults, all occurring in the first set. Rinderknech, ranked 54th globally, demonstrated a strong performance, winning 83% of points on his first serve compared to 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 he faced. This marked Rinderknech’s third consecutive victory against a top-20 opponent in Shanghai, with the match lasting one hour and 28 minutes.
Meanwhile, in China, Bianca Andreescu from Mississauga, Ont., and her partner Yue Yuan from China were knocked out in the women’s doubles quarterfinals at the Wuhan Open, losing 6-4, 7-6 (1) to Aleksandra Krunic and Anna Danilina. In another semifinal matchup, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic is set to take on Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot.
In Wuhan, Aryna Sabalenka continued her impressive winning streak by securing a 6-3, 6-3 victory over eighth-seeded Elena Rybakina in the WTA 1000-level tournament. Sabalenka, the reigning U.S. Open champion, extended her winning streak in Wuhan to 20 matches. She broke Rybakina’s serve three times during the 1-hour, 25-minute match, advancing to the semifinals for the 11th time this season. Sabalenka is now set to face sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula, who recently clinched a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory over Katerina Siniakova. Pegula has been showcasing strong performances, notably defeating No. 9 Ekaterina Alexandrova and American Hailey Baptiste in previous matches. Additionally, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff were scheduled to compete in the other quarterfinal matchups against Jasmine Paolini and Laura Siegemund, respectively.
