The top tie in the Last 16 of the 2023 China Open sees Elena Rybakina face off against Mirra Andreeva at around 11:15 CET on Wednesday morning. Our preview looks ahead to this popcorn clash in Beijing.

A top tussle between one of the WTA's top stars currently and one that is really gaining a name for herself. Who takes the win.

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Rybakina's rampant run after illness in Tokyo

Last week at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Rybakina withdrew due to illness instead of the performance bye fiasco which her and coach Stefano Vukov complained about.

Saying she hadn't been right since the US Open and it was a return to the illness which blighted her at Roland Garros. But given her displays this week, it hasn't seemingly had its effect on the court.

Blasting past albeit a fatigued Qinwen Zheng who won the Asian Games Gold Medal the week before, she then backed that up with one of her best wins of the season seeing off Tatjana Maria 7-5, 6-0 earlier on Tuesday.

It has been more complaints than scheduling for Rybakina than title wins and she will aim with Iga Swiatek seemingly off the boil and Aryna Sabalenka emphatic but not at title winning best after the US Open and she will aim for a statement win over the 16-year-old.

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Awesome Andreeva returns to making a name for herself

After indifferent form in Lausanne and Cleveland in particular since her run at Wimbledon, Mirra Andreeva is back making a name for herself.

The 16-year-old Russian tennis prodigy came through qualifying with wildcards due to nationality being few and far between.

But was superb in her matches there and saw off Barbora Krejcikova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach this point where she set up a tie with the fifth seed.

Of course a match that has never been played by the pair. Many have been predicting already that Rybakina will win with ease, but will Andreeva make it a nightmare for the Kazakh?

The tennis world will have their eyes peeled on this match for certain.

Relevant Tennis

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RYBAKINA v. ANDREEVA IN BEIJING R3! 🚨 We are here for it. 🍿

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