Elena Rybakina says she needs more time to “rest and recover” following her surprise exit from the Beijing Open.

In her first match since winning the US Open, Rybakina was upset in three sets by world No 118 Alina Charaeva on Saturday.

The 27-year-old looked out of sorts, particularly in the final set, as she exited the WTA 1000 event at the second-round stage.

The world No 1 was scheduled to play at the Wuhan Open, which runs from 12-18 October, but now the Australian Open winner has withdrawn from that event.

She said in an Instagram story, “I’m very sorry to the fans who were looking forward to seeing me play. I’ll take some time to rest and recover. Thank you for your understanding and continued support. See you next year.”

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Rybakina has been struggling with an Achilles injury for some time now, with the former Wimbledon champion missing the Billie Jean King Cup Finals last month as a result.

She was also forced to retire during her quarter-final match against Iga Swiatek in Cincinnati back in August, and it seems this issue has reared its ugly head again.

Rybakina is scheduled to play at the WTA 500 tournament in Ningbo, China, which begins on 19 October. It remains to be seen if she will recover in time for that competition, though.

One thing that may have led to this decision is Aryna Sabalenka‘s shock third round loss in Beijing to rising Czech star Nikola Bartunkova in straight sets on Sunday.

Following that defeat, she said, “She is very talented, and moves well on court. She also serves well so you have to convert your chances against her. She can serve really well and to return from shade or sun is tricky. I wasn’t good at this today.”

The early exits of the world’s top two players means Rybakina is more than 2,200 points ahead of Sabalenka in the WTA Tour rankings. The Kazakhstani will hope to claim the year-end ranking but the Belarusian will do her utmost to stop that from happening.

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