Friday produced arguably the most surprising result of the China Open so far as Aryna Sabalenka suffered an early exit.

The top seed and overwhelming favourite for the title met her match in Karolina Muchova, who took down the Belarusian in three sets to reach just her second WTA 1000 semifinal and a first since August 2023.

The Czech player has made a solid return to action after nine months out due to injury and undergoing major surgery.

Muchova is playing her first tournament since reaching the US Open semifinals in September and she certainly brought her best against Sabalenka, who struggled towards the end of the China Open quarter-final.

Aryna Sabalenka found herself in trouble after losing a first set tiebreak by seven points to five.

But the 26-year-old stormed back and fired 13 winners in set two, which she claimed for the loss of just two games.

The Australian Open champion was up 4-2 in the deciding set, but she lost four successive games to shockingly lose the match.

Sabalenka finished the contest with 37 unforced errors and commentator Naomi Broady was stunned by the three-time Grand Slam champion’s shocking drop in level.

“That was absolutely on her racket Sabalenka, that’s going to sting,” Broady said. “Her game just dissolved and just melted away, seemingly right when she just found it, she was playing some of the best tennis of the match.

“It was the unforced errors that started to stack up at the end of that third set. But credit to Muchova she stuck around and she hung tight.”

Follwing her her China Open quarter-finals defeat, Sabalenka’s 15-match win streak has come to an end.

She had not lost a match since the Canadian Open quarter-finals in August, when Amanda Anisimova defeated her 4-6, 2-6.

After winning the second set against Muchova, it appeared as though Sabalenka would complete the comeback.

But Muchova stayed solid and clinched victory in two hours and 46 minutes. In the process she beat Sabalenka for the third time in a row.