Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Belarus) defeated Varvara Lepchenko (USA) in the second round of qualifying at the China Open 6-4 6-1. The WTA 1000 event is being played on hard courts, with a prize fund of $9.4 million. In qualifying, Sasnovich is seeded sixth and Lepchenko seventeenth. According to rank.tennis, the Belarusian sits 128th in the rankings (566 points), while the American is 185th (401 points).
Lepchenko only managed to offer resistance in the first set, which ended 6-4. In the second, Sasnovich took six games out of seven to complete a straight-sets victory.
Path through the draw and head-to-head history
Sasnovich has yet to drop a set in Beijing. In the first round of qualifying she beat Junhan Zhang 6-2 6-0. Lepchenko opened her campaign with a 6-2 6-4 win over Ulrikke Eikeri. Shortly before Beijing, Sasnovich competed in Singapore, where she first beat Daria Kasatkina 7-5 6-0 before losing to Mirra Andreeva 2-6 2-6. Lepchenko, meanwhile, fell in the first round in Guadalajara to Alycia Parks 3-6 6-1 5-7.
According to api.tennis, the head-to-head now stands at 3-1 in Sasnovich's favor. In 2025 she beat Lepchenko by the exact same scoreline, 6-4 6-1, and in 2023 she won 6-3 6-2. Lepchenko's only victory came in 2017, when the American dropped the first set 0-6 but rallied to take the next two 6-3 6-4.