Katie Boulter suffers defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in a thrilling second round match at the China Open

Katie Boulter defeated world number one Aryna Sabalenka before succumbing to defeat in a second round clash at the China Open.

The British number one continued her strong season by coming through qualifying and beating Magdalena Frech in the first round in Beijing, setting up a clash with Belarusian Sabalenka, who won her first event at the top of the ranking played.

She had almost upset Sabalenka at Wimbledon two years ago and this was another close encounter, with the British player serving for both sets before her opponent hit back to win 7-5 7-6 (2).

Fourth seed Jessica Pegula came from a set down to beat Anna Blinkova 6-7 (2) 6-2 6-1, but Ons Jabeur saw her winning run end after her title in Ningbo last week, going 7-6 (5) down. 6-1 for the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.