The China Open draw began to thin quickly in the first half of the second round.
Of the 16 seeded players in action across today’s four sections, six failed to reach the third round, with No. 14 seed Jasmine Paolini the highest-ranked casualty. Diane Parry, Anastasia Potapova, Maja Chwalinska, Peyton Stearns and Clara Tauson also went out.
At the other end of the scale, the leading names largely survived. Aryna Sabalenka cruised through in straight sets, Mirra Andreeva recovered from losing the opening set to Yue Yuan by winning the next 12 games, while Linda Noskova, Karolina Muchova and Naomi Osaka all advanced.
The first half of Round 2 therefore produced a useful warning: the biggest names remain, but the layer immediately beneath them has already taken damage.
Snigur Sends Paolini Out in the Biggest Upset So Far
The highest seed to fall was Jasmine Paolini, who lost to Daria Snigur 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.
Paolini had taken the opening set and appeared to have the match moving in the expected direction.
The Ukrainian forced a second-set tiebreak, fell 4-2 behind, then recovered to win it 7-5 before pulling away decisively in the third.
For a No. 14 seed with a first-round bye, it was a particularly abrupt Beijing exit. Snigur, meanwhile, moves into the third round after turning a one-set deficit into one of the most significant results of the tournament so far.
Andreeva Loses a Set and Then Loses Nothing Else
For a while, Mirra Andreeva looked like she might join Paolini on the way out.
Yue Yuan took the opening set 6-3, giving the Chinese wildcard a real opportunity against the No. 4 seed.
Then the match flipped completely.
Andreeva won the second set 6-0.
And the third 6-0.
From one set down, the Russian reeled off 12 consecutive games to win 3-6, 6-0, 6-0.
It was the strangest scoreline among the leading seeds: genuine danger followed by complete control.
Sabalenka Makes Her Entrance Look Easy
No such recovery was required from Aryna Sabalenka.
The No. 2 seed dispatched Renata Zarazua 6-1, 6-3, producing one of the cleanest results of the day.
There was no prolonged adjustment period and no early scare.
Sabalenka simply moved through.
That will be welcome after a section of the draw in which several seeds immediately disappeared around her.
One of those was Maja Chwalinska, the No. 17 seed, who lost 6-3, 6-1 to Dayana Yastremska.
No. 16 seed Anastasia Potapova also exited after retiring while trailing Sinja Kraus 4-1.
Noskova and Shnaider Hold Their Ground
The Noskova section was much kinder to its highest-ranked players.
Linda Noskova, seeded No. 5, beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4, 6-1.
No. 11 seed Diana Shnaider was even more dominant early against Janice Tjen, taking the first set 6-0 before completing a 6-0, 6-4 victory.
Ekaterina Alexandrova also advanced in straight sets, beating qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-4.
The upset came elsewhere.
No. 28 seed Peyton Stearns lost to Viktorija Golubic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
That leaves Noskova, Alexandrova and Shnaider intact in a section that already looked deep before the tournament began.
Preston and Kudermetova Remove Two More Seeds
The Andreeva section supplied three of the six seeded exits.
Paolini was the biggest.
No. 22 seed Diane Parry also went out, beaten 7-6(4), 6-1 by Taylah Preston.
Then No. 32 seed Clara Tauson lost a three-set match to Polina Kudermetova, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
That leaves Andreeva as the clear surviving anchor of the section, but the route around her has changed significantly.
What originally looked like a cluster of seeded opponents has already been stripped back.
Muchova and Osaka Avoid the Trouble
The Muchova section produced no seeded casualties.
Karolina Muchova, seeded No. 7, beat Katie Boulter 7-6(3), 6-1 after trailing 1-4 in the first set.
No. 12 seed Naomi Osaka had a more complicated afternoon against Maria Timofeeva. Osaka won the first set, dropped the second and recovered to take the decider for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
Liudmila Samsonova, seeded No. 29, also needed three sets against lucky loser Linda Fruhvirtova before advancing 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Sara Bejlek, the No. 20 seed, completed the clean sweep for the seeds in that section by beating Maddison Inglis 6-3, 7-5.
Compared with the chaos around Paolini and Andreeva, this quarter remained remarkably orderly.
Six Seeds Gone Before Half of Round 2 Is Complete
The damage from the first half of the second round is already substantial.
The seeded players eliminated are:
- No. 14 Jasmine Paolini
- No. 16 Anastasia Potapova
- No. 17 Maja Chwalinska
- No. 22 Diane Parry
- No. 28 Peyton Stearns
- No. 32 Clara Tauson
That is six seeds from 16 matches.
Yet the very top of the draw has largely resisted the turbulence.
Sabalenka advanced comfortably.
Andreeva survived an early scare spectacularly.
Noskova and Muchova both moved through.
Osaka remains alive.
The early Beijing story is therefore not a collapse of the favorites.
It is the erosion immediately underneath them.
And Paolini, as the highest seed removed so far, is the clearest sign that the third round will look considerably less orderly than the second-round draw suggested.