Mirra Andreeva, the No. 4 seed, and Linda Noskova, the No. 5 seed, both first-time Grand Slam champions this season, progressed to the third round of the China Open in Beijing on Friday. The players remain in contention for the WTA Finals in Charleston, with Andreeva currently third in the Race and Noskova positioned eighth. They are also on track for a potential quarterfinal matchup this week.
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Andreeva faced local wildcard Yue Yuan, who is ranked No. 135 in the WTA PIF Rankings. After losing the first set 6-3, Andreeva bounced back, winning the next two sets 6-0 to secure a 3-6, 6-0, 6-0 victory in one hour and 52 minutes. This marked her 12th and 13th 6-0 set wins in 2023, a tour-high for this season.
Following the match, Andreeva expressed frustration with her slow start, noting, "I felt like there is a lot more stuff that I could do on the court that I was not able to do." She articulated that channeling her anger helped her pivot her performance in the latter sets, stating she aimed to dominate instead of letting her opponent take control.
With this win, Andreeva improved her record to 9-0 on the WTA Tour in 2023 against opponents outside the Top 100. This victory was her 46th of the season, putting her in a tie for third place with Aryna Sabalenka for the most wins in 2023, following only Jessica Pegula (50) and Elena Rybakina (49).
Noskova, who reached the finals at this event last year, followed Andreeva on Centre Court to face Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse. Noskova had previously lost to Ruse early this season in Bad Homburg. Starting strong, Noskova built a 3-0 lead, but Ruse fought back before requiring a medical timeout. Noskova ultimately won eight of the last nine games to finish the match 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 24 minutes.
The Czech player improved her record to 18-3 this season against players outside the Top 50. Noskova reflected on her previous experience at the venue, saying, "It’s nice to come back to a place where I played great."
Andreeva will next play the winner between No. 32 seed Clara Tauson and Polina Kudermetova, while Noskova will face Viktorija Golubic for the first time on tour. Andreeva holds a 4-0 record against Tauson and has won her only previous encounter with Kudermetova.