Day Three of the WTA China Open will get underway on Monday, October 2, with Elena Rybakina set to clash with Qinwen Zheng, Coco Gauff returning to competition for the first time since the US Open, and Iga Swiatek looking for redemption after last week's result at the Pan Pacific Open. Here is our preview of the day at the National Tennis Center in Beijing.

Fifth seed Rybakina will face World No. 23 Zheng on Diamond in the first round of the WTA 1000 tournament. The Kazakhstani player withdrew from the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last week, citing health reasons.

Prior to this, she had been vocal about her frustrations regarding the use of performance byes at the event. This means that the China Open will be Rybakina's first tournament since the US Open, where she was eliminated in the third round by Sorana Cirstea.

This will also be Zheng's first event since she achieved a somewhat surprisingly deep run at Flushing Meadows, where she defeated Ons Jabeur to make her first quarter-final at a major. Rybakina leads their head-to-head 1-0, having ousted Zheng on the way to her first and only Grand Slam title to date at Wimbledon 2022. 

First up on Diamond will be Gauff's clash with Ekaterina Alexandrova. This will be the 19-year-old's first tournament since she won her first-ever Grand Slam title at the US Open. The 19-year-old had a dream run on home soil in New York, and she will be hoping to carry that momentum with her into the Asian Swing.

On the other hand, World No. 21 Alexandrova has had a busy time since she exited the US Open in the third round. She lost to Jelena Ostapenko in the first round of the San Diego Open before being ousted in the second round of the Guadalajara Open. However, she made it to the quarter-finals at the Pan Pacific Open last week, defeating seventh seed Liudmila Samsonova along the way.

Their head-to-head is currently level at 1-1, although Gauff is likely to have more energy and momentum in their clash tomorrow.

Over on Lotus, Swiatek will start her campaign against Sara Sorribes Tomo. The second seed will be aiming for a deep run here after losing to eventual champion Veronika Kudermetova in the quarter-finals at the Pan Pacific Open.

Also on Lotus, Jabeur will take on America's Ashlyn Krueger for the first time in her career. The Tunisian player faced disappointment in Guadalajara after she was eliminated in her second round. However, she came back to win the Ningbo Open last week.

Caroline Garcia will also be competing tomorrow over on Brad Drewett after a run to the semi-finals in Guadalajara. The French player briefly fell out of the Top 10 in the WTA Ranking a few weeks ago after a first-round defeat at the US Open but was able to move back to tenth place, from where she will be hoping to go up rather than down. Her first-round opponent in Beijing will be Ukraine's Kateryna Baindl.