Badosa shocks second seed Pegula at China Open

US Open finalist Jessica Pegula has withdrawn from the China Open after a round of 16 defeat against Spain's Paula Badosa.

The American world number two seeded in Beijing lost 6:4 and 6:0 in just over an hour.

An early break left Badosa 3-1 behind 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 is one of the players I never want to play against,” said world number 19 Badosa.

“She’s very solid, hits very flat, changes direction very well, so I knew it was going to be difficult.”

“Yesterday I was preparing for a fight, but I think everything went pretty well today.”

She will face 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 entered her home tournament with 24 straight losses over more than 600 days, the second-longest streak on the WTA Tour in the open era that began in 1968, when professionals were finally allowed to compete in Grand Slam tournaments.

The two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist, whose career has been plagued by injuries, is also the lowest-ranked player ever to play in the main draw of the China Open – a WTA 1000 event.

But the 35-year-old has now won four games in Beijing without losing a set, including a second-round victory over US Open semi-finalist Emma Navarro.