Top World Tennis Players Hunt for Points in Asia

BEIJING, SATURDAY — Just two weeks after the US Open Grand Slam, top world tennis players are competing in the Asia tour taking place from mid-September to October. Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Iga Swiatek are vying for points to realize their chances of becoming the world number one by the end of the year.

Swiatek has the opportunity to overtake Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the women's singles world rankings, despite being nearly 3,000 points apart. This point total is equivalent to three championship titles at WTA 1000 tournaments (each WTA 1000 tournament awards one thousand points to the champion), such as the one taking place in Beijing, China, from September 24 to October 5.

Although she must reduce a significant point gap, Swiatek can narrow the difference if she performs well in Beijing, especially since Sabalenka is absent due to injury. Consequently, Sabalenka is certain to lose the points earned from her quarter-final achievement in 2024. Meanwhile, Swiatek will gain additional points from her journey in Beijing in 2025, as she was absent the previous year.

Sabalenka will compete in the next WTA 1000 tournament in China, which will take place in Wuhan from October 6 to 12; however, her task is quite challenging. She must defend one thousand points as she was the champion in 2024.

Swiatek's efforts to approach Sabalenka began with winning the WTA 500 in Seoul, from September 15 to 21. In Beijing, Swiatek started her journey from the second round on Saturday (27/9/2025), after receiving a bye in the first round. She defeated the host player, Yuan Yue, with a score of 6-0, 6-3.

Swiatek won the first set without losing a single game by breaking Yuan's serve in the opening game. Yuan, the world-ranked 110 player who received support from the audience in the stadium, managed to avoid a double bagel (0-6, 0-6) by winning three games in the second set.

"The match was not easy as it was tightly contested in every game. She is smart in reading the game," commented Swiatek, who became the top seed with Sabalenka's absence.

Swiatek is no stranger to the atmosphere of the WTA Beijing competition, despite being absent in 2024. She was the champion in 2023 after defeating Liudmila Samsonova in the final. That victory became Swiatek's only title from the WTA 1000 in that year after losing in the finals of the WTA 1000 in Dubai and Madrid.

"I do have good memories here, but every tournament has a different story. We have to start over again," said the owner of six Grand Slam titles.

In the third round, Swiatek will face Camilla Osorio and is expected to encounter significant challenges only from the quarter-finals, with a potential match against Jessica Pegula. However, the open competition allows for anything to happen, so Swiatek must approach each round with the same level of focus.

The open competition led to the elimination of the 12th seed, who is also the champion of the WTA Beijing 2019, Naomi Osaka, in the second round. Osaka lost to qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich with a score of 6-1, 4-6, 2-6. Sasnovich is the player who defeated Indonesian tennis player Janice Tjen in the first round. In her debut at the WTA 1000, Janice competed from the qualifying phase, just like Sasnovich.

The 10th seed, Clara Tauson, was also eliminated in the second round, as was the Canadian teenager, Victoria Mboko, who won the WTA 1000 in Canada in August. Meanwhile, the fourth seed, Mirra Andreeva, triumphed over Zhu Lin with a score of 6-2, 6-2.

In the men's singles competition at the same venue in the ATP 500 level, Sinner saved himself from defeat when facing qualifier Terence Atmane. Sinner defeated Atmane with a score of 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 in the second round after winning against senior player Marin Cilic in the first round.

"It was a very difficult match. Atmane's serve was excellent; besides that, I lost a bit of focus in the second set," said Sinner, who won the ATP Beijing in 2023 but lost to Alcaraz in the final the following year.

The two tennis players dominating the top-level men's singles competition are confirmed not to meet in Beijing 2025 as Alcaraz has chosen to compete in the ATP 500 Tokyo during the same week. This year, Alcaraz and Sinner have faced each other five times, all of which occurred in finals, namely at the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome and Cincinnati, as well as the Grand Slam tournaments of the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Except for Wimbledon, Alcaraz won in the other four finals.

In Tokyo, the Spanish tennis player was still able to play well despite suffering an ankle injury while facing Sebastian Baez in the first round. Alcaraz advanced to the quarter-finals after defeating Zizou Bergs 6-4, 6-3 in the second round on Saturday.

In the quarter-finals, Alcaraz will face Brandon Nakashima, with the possibility of meeting Casper Ruud in the semi-finals. In addition to Alcaraz, the top seed, and Ruud (4), the other top four seeds will also compete in the quarter-finals. They are Taylor Fritz (2), who will confront Sebastian Korda, and Holger Rune (3), who will compete against Jenson Brooksby. (AFP/AP)