Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland beat American Peyton Stearns in the round of 64 at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, and advanced to the round of 32. Stearns was seeded 28th and is ranked No. 34 with 1316 points, while Golubic is 79th with 883 points, according to api.tennis. The prize money at the hard-court tournament totals $9.4 million.
Three sets on the Beijing hard courts
Golubic took the first set, 6-4. In the second set, Stearns answered in kind and leveled the match by winning 6-3. The deciding set went to the Swiss player by the same 6-3 score, and the match ended in her favor 2:1 in sets.
In Beijing, Golubic opened with a confident win over Emina Kalieva in the round of 128, 6-3, 6-1. Across two matches at the tournament, she has dropped only one set. The head-to-head between Golubic and Stearns is now 1:1: the American won their only other meeting.
Stearns came to Beijing after reaching the final in Guadalajara. There, she beat Sloane Stephens 7-6 (6), 6-4 and Ludmila Samsonova 7-6 (7), 6-2, before losing to Iva Jovic 4-6, 2-6 in the title match.