Elena Rybakina’s first match as World No.1 ends in monumental upset defeat against World No.118 Alina Charaeva

21 days ago, Elena Rybakina would win her third Grand Slam title and maiden US Open triumph. After a brief period away from the court, she returns at the China Open, but was stunned in an astonishing upset against the World No.118 Alina Charaeva in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Rybakina had a very busy period in North America. A final in Canada and quarter-final in Cincinnati came before the US Open. She needed time to rest and reset, seeing her spend some time away from the court as she started to get used to her new World No.1 tag.

This was her first match officially as the highest ranked player on the WTA rankings, but from the off it did not feel like that. She took some time to get into her tennis, shaking off the rust to eventually come out on top in the first set. A gruelling battle in the second set went the way of a rapidly improving Charaeva before the momentum stuck with the lower ranked player, picking up a pivotal break before incredibly seeing out the contest.

Charaeva did not even qualify for the US Open, the tournament Rybakina won. She was the massive underdog, but that did not show on court. She put in the performance of her life against a Rybakina figure way off her best for the biggest win of her career. Before that, it was against the World No.31 Wang Xinyu, showcasing how big of an occasion this is in her first ever match against a top 20 opponent.

It was a sloppy start for the pair of them. When Rybakina’s serve is on song, there are very few who can keep up with the Kazakh, let alone beat her. It was, however, the opening games were full of errors. Rybakina went a break behind off the bat before instantly responding.

A missed break chance allowed Charaeva to get back level. Her ace to win the game was her first winner of the match, claiming most of her points through Rybakina errors. However, on her own serve the Armenian was not having too much fun. Rybakina had created break points in every game and converted another one before backing up with a hold to lead 4-2, having won four of the last five games.

Charaeva fought back to overturn a 40-0 deficit to again keep tabs with her opponent, but she was unable to double her hold of serve tally with Rybakina successfully holding to love this time around to charge out ahead.

Rybakina had hoped to run away with the second set, putting behind a slightly messy first set showing. That seemed to be on the cards with a break of serve, but Charaeva was not letting her out of her sights. Parity was restored with the competitors tied at 3-3.

The holds continued before Charaeva snuck ahead against the serve and stole a march on her opponent, converting a set point and sending the contest the distance.

Charaeva continued to hound her opponent, who was really uncomfortable on court as the unforced errors mounted. She survived a break point by the slimmest of margins before another routine hold left the 24-year-old back ahead.

Then came the definitive break. Charaeva backed this up with an eye-catching hold to love and was one game away from the blasting into the third round. Rybakina made her serve it out, testing the nerves. There were none. She sprinted over the finishing line to complete one of the biggest upsets of the season.