Karolina Muchova vs Liudmila Samsonova — R32 — China Open

Seventh-seeded Karolina Muchova recovered from a set down to beat Liudmila Samsonova and reach the China Open round of 16. Both players have reached a final at this event before. Muchova lost the 2024 final to Coco Gauff, and Samsonova lost the 2023 final to Iga Swiatek. Samsonova is ranked 39th and was seeded 29th. She came to Beijing after reaching the semifinals at the Guadalajara Open last month. Muchova broke in the first game, but Samsonova broke straight back. Samsonova finished the opening set with seven break points and converted two of them to win it 6-4. She didn't get another break point for the rest of the match. Muchova again broke in the opening game of the second set, and this time she kept the lead to level the match. In the deciding set, she broke in the third game for 2-1 and again in the fifth for 4-1. Muchova hit 13 aces, and 12 of them came in the last two sets. Samsonova hit two. Over the whole match, Samsonova won 39 percent of the points on her second serve (12 of 31). Muchova won 60 percent of hers.