The 2026 China Open concluded in Beijing on October 11. Founded in 2004 and now staged as a joint ATP 500 men's event and WTA 1000 women's event, this year's tournament drew extraordinary crowds: according to CGTN, total attendance topped 450,000, a new record for the tournament. The event brought together many of the world's top players, producing both the continuation of a modern great's dominance in the men's draw and a landmark first home singles title for a Chinese player in the women's draw.

There was little suspense over the men's singles title. Serbia's Novak Djokovic won the China Open for the first time in 11 years, claiming his seventh title at the tournament — he has now won every one of the seven editions he has entered, and the trophy was also the 102nd singles title of his career. In the October 6 final, Djokovic won a tight opening-set tie-break 7-6(7/3); with the second set at 1-0 against him, Australia's Alex de Minaur was forced to retire with a left adductor strain. "I don't feel great," de Minaur told the crowd afterward, as Djokovic secured the title.

Djokovic's run to the title was not without drama. In the second round, he dropped the first set to Bu Yunchaokete, a 24-year-old wild-card entrant from Zhejiang — the first set Djokovic had lost at the China Open since 2013 — before rallying to win 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2; he later praised his opponent's serve and groundstrokes. Djokovic then beat Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, third seed Daniil Medvedev was defaulted for accidentally hitting a spectator with a ball while leading 7-5, 5-3, sending Djokovic straight through to the final. De Minaur, his opponent in the final, had also reached it without playing a semifinal, advancing after Hubert Hurkacz retired injured midway through the second set.

The women's draw produced a far more dramatic storyline. In the final on October 11, China's Zheng Qinwen defeated Russia's No. 4 seed Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 to become the first Chinese player to win the women's singles title since the tournament began in 2004. Ranked No. 54 in the world at the time and competing on a wild card, Zheng claimed her first title in nearly two years, her first-ever WTA 1000 crown, and the sixth singles title of her career. Andreeva had been chasing her fourth title of the season but came up short.

The win carried particular weight for Zheng herself. The Olympic champion had been sidelined by a right elbow injury that required surgery in 2025, which sent her ranking and form sliding. At last year's China Open, she was forced to retire mid-match after the injury flared up again. A year later, she returned to Beijing as a wild card and fought through the draw, beating qualifier Alina Charaeva 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, before reaching the final and lifting the trophy in a compelling comeback from injury.

Zheng's title also drew renewed attention to her achievements on the international stage in recent years. Born in Shiyan, Hubei province, she won China's first Olympic tennis singles gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games, beating Croatia's Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the final to become the first Asian player to top the podium in that event. Before this week, her last singles title had come at a tournament in Tokyo, Japan, in late 2024, making this China Open crown her first title in nearly two years since that win.

As a key stop on tennis's autumn Asian swing, this year's China Open again paired an ATP 500 men's event with a WTA 1000 women's event, though the two ran on slightly different schedules. The men's tournament ran from September 30 to October 6 with a total prize pool of roughly US$4.09 million, with the men's singles champion earning about US$764,750. The women's tournament ran from September 30 to October 11 with a total prize pool of roughly US$9.42 million, and the women's singles champion earned about US$1,151,380. Prize money at both levels ranks among the highest for tournaments of their respective tiers, underscoring the China Open's standing in international tennis.

From record attendance to a Chinese player's first home singles title, this year's tournament marked a milestone for the development of tennis in China. Since Li Na ushered in China's Grand Slam era in the early 2000s, top-tier events in Beijing and Shanghai have continued to give Chinese players a stage to compete against the world's best on home soil, and Zheng Qinwen's title run after recovering from injury is being seen as further evidence of a new generation of Chinese players pushing toward the top of world tennis. For Beijing, a city that has hosted the Olympics and other major international events, the continued staging of the China Open further cements its role as a key tennis hub in Asia. Overall, this year's tournament saw an established champion extend his dominance in the men's draw while the women's draw produced a historic home champion, together lifting the event's profile, and the historic moment produced on court in Beijing is likely to be remembered for some time as a milestone in the development of both the China Open and Chinese tennis more broadly.