US Open finalist Jessica Pegula is out of the China Open after a last-16 defeat by Spain’s Paula Badosa.
The American world number three, seeded second in Beijing, lost 6-4 6-0 in just over an hour.
An early break saw Badosa go 3-1 down in the opening set, but the Spaniard won 11 of the next 12 games – including eight in a row – to secure her first win over a top-five player since 2022.
“She’s one the of the players I never want to face,” said world number 19 Badosa.
“She’s very solid, hits very flat, changes direction very well, so I knew it was going to be tough.
“Yesterday I prepared myself for a battle, but I think today everything worked pretty well.”
She will meet Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals after the world number 595 continued her remarkable run at the tournament with a 6-4 6-2 win over Poland’s Magdalena Frech.
Zhang went into her home event on the back of 24 successive defeats spanning more than 600 days, the second-longest run on the WTA Tour in the open era, which began in 1968 when professionals were finally allowed to play in Grand Slam tournaments.
The two-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, whose career has been plagued by injuries, is also the lowest-ranked player to ever compete in the main draw of the China Open – a WTA 1000 event.
But the 35-year-old has now won four matches in Beijing without dropping a set, including a second-round win over US Open semi-finalist Emma Navarro.
