Maya Joint is expected to crack the world’s top 35 after another impressive showing in Beijing, while Alex de Minaur improves his chances of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals.
Beijing, China, 28 September 2025 | AAP
Maya Joint has recorded the third top-20 win of her short career – all of which have come in 2025 – at the China Open.
The 19-year-old Australian, currently sitting at a season-high ranking of No.36, defeated Russian world No.19 Diana Shnaider 7-5 6-1 at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing.
It sets up a round-of-16 clash against Britain’s Sonay Kartal, who enjoyed a 6-3 6-0 victory over another Aussie in Daria Kasatkina.
Joint joins fellow Aussie Priscilla Hon in the third round, a day after Hon – a qualifier – stunned Jelena Ostapenko to set up a meeting with 15th seed Belinda Bencic.
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At the concurrent men’s event in the Chinese capital, Alex de Minaur has improved his chances of taking part in the season-ending ATP Finals in Italy by booking his spot in the China Open quarterfinals.
The third-seeded Australian needed three sets over two hours and 18 minutes to defeat Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-3 3-6 7-6(2) in his second Beijing outing.
With a Tour-leading 33 wins on hard courts this season, De Minaur consolidated his eighth-placed position in the ATP Race To Turin, the last spot available to reach the November finals.
In a contest that featured just two breaks of serve, Rinderknech finally succumbed in a third-set tiebreaker after having saved three match points.
Chasing a second title win for the year, 26-year-old De Minaur will take on world No.19 Jakub Mensik in the quarterfinals after the young Czech star defeated Frenchman Arthur Cazaux 6-3 2-6 6-4.
If De Minaur can get past Mensik, the likelihood of a semifinal with nemesis Jannik Sinner looms, with the Italian world No.2 having laboured before beating Frenchman Terence Atmane 6-4 5-7 6-0 in his last-16 clash.
Sinner next meets Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, who beat another Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-3 7-6(5) in the round-of-16.
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Joint, meanwhile, broke in just the second game of her contest, but immediately handed it back. The match went with serve until the 12th game, at which point the teenager took the first set on her fifth set point.
She returned with vigour and broke three more times in the second set to complete the job in one hour and 25 minutes.
Also on Saturday, world No.94 Ajla Tomljanovic was swept aside by American Jessica Pegula in 63 minutes.
Pegula, the 2024 US Open semifinalist and China Open fifth seed, won 6-0 6-3 and next faces either Emma Raducanu.
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