Marta Kostyuk had an unusual request at the China Open during her second-round win over Ella Siedel as she asked for “happier music” to be played mid-match. The Ukrainian 23rd seed ran out a comfortable 6-1, 6-1 victor against Ella Siedel of Germany in Beijing to set up a meeting with Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

But despite easing to a straight-sets victory in only 59 minutes, Kostyuk wasn’t happy when Adele played out over the speakers on court during one changeover. ‘Go Easy On Me’ was the song blaring on Brad Drewett Court and Kostyuk first raised both arms out to express her discontent after swigging from a bottle of water.

She then swayed along to the song while continuing to drink before she turned to chair umpire Yamilla Halle and said: “Can we have happier music?” But she laughed off the moment on the way to a routine victory.

This is Kostyuk’s first tournament since the US Open where she lost in the fourth round to 11th seed Karolina Muchova. The 23-year-old also played doubles alongside Elena-Gabriela Ruse but the duo lost to Belgian pair Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova in round three.

World No.28 Kostyuk has had a mixed season overall with her US Open run the best performance of her career so far at Flushing Meadows, beating former Great Britain’s Katie Boulter. She has reached three WTA 1000 quarter-finals and has also beaten two-time Grand Slam winner Coco Gauff, former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova and British No.1 Emma Raducanu in 2025.

Should Kostyuk, who hails from Kyiv, get past Sasnovich on Monday, then the winner of Raducanu’s match against fifth seed Jessica Pegula awaits. Elsewhere in Beijing, defending champion Gauff defeated Leylay Fernandez in a match that lasted over three hours.

And the American, who is bidding to defend her crown at the China Open, hailed the hospitality from the locals. “I will say the Chinese fans have been the nicest fans on tour by far,” Gauff said.

“Just the gifts and everything. I’m going to post a picture at the end of this tournament of all the gifts. It’s more gifts than I’ve gotten on Christmas, and I was a pretty spoiled kid (smiling). It’s just insane.”