seed

Novak Djokovic to face Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals in Beijing after the Russian defeats Francisco Cerundolo.

Novak Djokovic has brushed aside ongoing injury-related struggles and produced a trademark comeback to defeat top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 for a place in the China Open semifinals, extending his unbeaten record in the tournament.

Playing the ATP 500 event in Beijing for the first time since 2015, the six-time champion was pushed to the limit by reigning French Open and US Open champion Zverev, who delivered 19 aces in the match on Sunday.

Meeting for the first time in nearly 16 months, Djokovic struggled to contain the German’s power in the early stages as the 29-year-old Zverev claimed the opening set, but the Serb gradually worked his way into the match and refused to let his opponent pull away.

“I had a terrible start – two double faults at the beginning. It was quite cold, and honestly, I didn’t feel warmed up, but my fault,” Djokovic said.

“I gave him an early break, and then it was hard to come back in the first set.”

The contest was briefly interrupted by a moment of controversy when Zverev argued that the electronic advertising signage had gone dark during a rally and requested a video review after losing the point.

Replays showed a section of the signage had switched off although not as Zverev was missing the forehand. The chair umpire ordered the point to be replayed, prompting a frustrated exchange from Djokovic.

‘Held my nerves’

The turning point came late in the second set when Djokovic broke at 5-4 to level the match, shifting the momentum in his favour after a tightly contested battle.

With little separating the pair in the third, the Serbian struck again at 5-4 on the Zverev serve, securing the decisive break to seal the victory in two hours and 35 minutes.

“I was trying to be aggressive and come to the net and change up the pace, not giving the same pattern,” Djokovic said.

“I am just glad that I held my nerves, played good shots at important moments, 5-4 in the second and third.”

The pair had not met since Roland Garros in 2025, where Djokovic won in four sets, and Sunday’s encounter again highlighted the Serb’s ability to deliver under pressure despite a season disrupted by physical issues.

With the victory, Djokovic moved a step closer to a seventh China Open title and an elusive first trophy of the year while denying Zverev another opportunity to strengthen his bid for the world number one ranking.

Djokovic will face Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals after the Russian defeated Francisco Cerundolo 7-6(4), 6-3 earlier.

Rybakina withdraws from Wuhan after China Open exit

World number one Elena Rybakina withdrew from this month’s Wuhan Open due to a foot injury, tournament organisers said on Sunday, a day after the Kazakh suffered a shock defeat in her opening match at the China Open.

Rybakina, who lost to world number 118 Alina Charaeva in Beijing, said she would take time away from competition to recover.

“I’m very sorry to the fans who were looking forward to seeing me play,” Rybakina said in a story posted on the tournament’s Instagram account.

“I’ll take some time to rest and recover. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.”

The 27-year-old has been managing a lingering lower leg and foot problem that also forced her to retire from her Cincinnati quarterfinal against Iga Swiatek in August.

Despite the setback, Rybakina recovered in time for the US Open, where she claimed her third Grand Slam title, rose to world number one and became the first player to qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals.

Rybakina is next expected to compete this month in the Ningbo Open in China, where she will try to defend her title.

The Wuhan Open is scheduled to take place from October 12 to 18.

Sept. 29, 2026 9:13 PM PT

NEW YORK — The New York Liberty are peaking at the right time and were able to complete a historic sweep of the Minnesota Lynx to advance to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs.

Jonquel Jones had 21 points and 13 rebounds and the No. 8 seed Liberty beat the top-seeded Lynx 87-71 in Game 2 of their WNBA playoff series Tuesday night. New York became the first No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed in the league’s 30-year history.

The WNBA has undergone a number of different playoff formats. And in many of the formats, it wasn’t possible for those seeds to match up. However, in 2022, the league changed to the current format in which the top eight teams play in the quarterfinals.

“It feels good, we understand who we are as a team,” Jones said. “We’re not listening to outside noise, we understand that we can do a lot of great things. We feel like we can play with anybody and beat anybody. That’s the mindset we have moving forward. It feels good to make history. It had to be done for us to advance. It’s nice to say it’s been accomplished, but we have a lot of work to do.”

Breanna Stewart added 21 points and Sabrina Ionescu had 18 for the Liberty, who await the winner of the Atlanta-Washington series. The Dream are up 1-0 and play at Washington on Wednesday night. The semifinals begin Sunday.

A year after losing in the first round to Phoenix after going up 1-0 in that series, New York was determined not to have that happen again.

The Liberty were up five points after one quarter and led 40-35 with 2:39 left in the half. New York scored nine of the final 11 points in the second quarter to go up 49-37 at the break.

New York was up 52-39 with 6:26 left in the third when Stewart drove to the basket and was hit in the face by Olivia Miles as she tried to block the shot. Stewart was down for a minute as the officials reviewed the play and upgraded the play to a Flagrant-1 foul.

As Stewart walked off the court, she raised her hands to the sellout crowd of 17,593, who serenaded her with “MVP!” chants. Stewart hit both free throws.

Minnesota couldn’t get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

“New York is a great basketball team,” said Courtney Williams, who led Minnesota with 18 points. “You dig a hole for yourself and try to get out of it. We wanted to go on a run, but they had answers for everything.”

The Lynx’s season ended in disappointment again. The Lynx had the best regular-season record, but just couldn’t put it together against New York. On Monday, Cheryl Reeve won the league’s coach of the year and Miles was a unanimous choice for rookie of the year.

Miles struggled in both games against New York. She had five points, missing seven of her eight shots in 17 minutes, on Tuesday night. The Liberty’s size and ability to protect the rim bothered the stellar first-year player.

Reeve said she offered encouragement to her star rookie after the game.

“As I told her. When was the last time a rookie led the first-place team? Never happened before,” Reeve said. “That’s what we shared with her. This hurts for her.”

Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride each added 14 to for the Lynx.

Feinberg writes for the Associated Press.