Rybakina to face Kawa in Ningbo Open quarter-final on October 23
Elena Rybakina, the top seed and defending champion, will meet Katarzyna Kawa in the Ningbo Open quarter-finals at the Yinzhou Tennis Center in Ningbo, China on October 23; the match is scheduled to start at 7:00 PM local time (4:30 PM IST).
Rybakina enters the match as the reigning Australian and US Open champion but arrives in Ningbo with uneven recent results. She lost her Beijing opener to Alina Charaeva, withdrew from Wuhan because of a left foot issue, and her Ningbo opener amounted to roughly a 30-minute walkover. Polina Kudermetova retired five games into their second-round meeting with Rybakina leading 5-0, which provided Rybakina with her first win in 40 days, and she has now won her last five matches at this tournament. Rybakina is the defending Ningbo champion, having beaten Ekaterina Alexandrova to lift the title in 2025.
Katarzyna Kawa reached the quarter-finals from the qualifying draw and is 33 years old. She beat Daria Snigur 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the main draw and then defeated fifth seed Belinda Bencic in straight sets for her first Top 20 win. The victory over Bencic moved Kawa into her first WTA hard-court quarter-final.
This will be the pair’s first meeting on tour. Rybakina progressed into the Ningbo quarter-finals following Kudermetova’s retirement, which was recorded with Rybakina leading 5-0 in the second round.
Broadcasters and streaming options have been confirmed for several territories: in India the match will be available on WTA TV (subscription) and through cable providers or streaming platforms that carry Tennis Channel India; viewers in the United Kingdom can watch on Sky Sports and stream via the Sky Sports app and NOW with a valid subscription; in the United States the match will be shown live on Tennis Channel and can also be accessed on streaming services such as FuboTV and Sling TV that carry Tennis Channel. Fans worldwide are advised to check their local broadcasters for coverage.
The quarter-final between Elena Rybakina and Katarzyna Kawa is set for October 23 at the Yinzhou Tennis Center in Ningbo and is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM local time (4:30 PM IST).