A day after world No 1 Elena Rybakina was knocked out of the China Open, world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka followed suit in Beijing on Sunday.
Czech 20-year-old Nikola Bartunkova defeated the four-time Grand Slam champion 6-4 6-3, leaving the tournament without its two top seeds in the opening week.
Rybakina was knocked out on Saturday, and Sabalenka has now joined her in an early exit from the WTA 1000 event in Beijing.
Sabalenka, who was denied a US Open three-peat by Rybakina last month, squandered five break points in the opening set as her struggles in Beijing continued.
The 28-year-old Belarusian has never progressed beyond the quarter-finals at the tournament.
Bartunkova, the No 26 seed, will next face Austria’s 24-year-old Sinja Kraus, who defeated Dayana Yastremska 6-1 6-4 earlier on Sunday.
Fifth seed Mirra Andreeva eased into the fourth round with a 6-4 6-1 victory over Polina Kudermetova.
The French Open champion fired six aces and converted five of seven break-point opportunities to overwhelm her Uzbek opponent in just 68 minutes.
Alcaraz into Tokyo semi-finals
Carlos Alcaraz has reached back-to-back Tokyo semi-finals
Top seed Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the semi-finals of the Japan Open after Denis Shapovalov was forced to retire with a hip injury, extending the Spaniard’s strong return from a four-month wrist injury lay-off.
The defending champion was leading 7-6 (7-4) 2-1 when the Canadian called it a day.
“It was a little bit frustrating with my serve. I couldn’t find a good way of serving: I was struggling almost every game on serve,” Alcaraz said after dropping serve three times in the opening set.
“But I’m just happy with the way I came back after every break. It was a great first set: Great points, great rallies.”
The Spaniard said he was disappointed to progress in such circumstances.
“It’s a shame that he had to pull out. Going through to a semi-final like this is not the way I wanted, but sometimes sports are tough. You have to accept it. Hopefully he’s going to be able to play in Shanghai healthy.”
Alcaraz will face compatriot Jaume Munar in the semi-finals after the qualifier defeated France’s Kyrian Jacquet 6-4 6-2.
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