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Aryna Sabalenka has slammed the reintroduction of performance byes after it left her without any protection at the WTA 1000 in Beijing. The world No 1 lost her protection of a pass to the second round after the WTA opted to give byes to those who had gone deep at tournaments the week before instead of the top seeds. It comes after Elena Rybakina slammed the WTA for the same rule change.<\/p>\n
Performance byes have been causing controversy in recent weeks as the women\u2019s tour brought them back in Tokyo to help those who had a deep run in Guadalajara the week before. Players who reached the semi-finals or better were able to have a pass into the second week of the next tournament, and the same thing has now been implemented between Tokyo and Beijing.<\/p>\n
Jessica Pegula, Anastasia Pavlychenkova, Veronika Kudermetova and Maria Sakkari have been granted the byes for the China Open because of their performances in Tokyo. It meant that Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff missed out, as they regularly would receive byes as the top three seeds along with fourth seed Pegula.<\/p>\n
The world No 1 has now branded the move unacceptable although she conceded that players had been made well aware of the change in the rules months in advance. \u201cI knew because they sent an email before, everyone knew about the performance bye, but I didn’t understand it,\u201d Sabalenka said ahead of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive tennis news<\/strong><\/p>\n Just in <\/strong> Medvedev makes ‘bad for tennis’ claim as furious rivals getting injured by balls[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI do not understand that. Players who have byes for having played semi-finals in a lower tournament receive a bye in a 1000 tournament, I don’t understand it.\u201d The 13-time title winner also stated that byes should be given based on ranking instead of a result the week before.<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cI think you have to earn those byes. You have to do it for the consistency of your game, not just for playing well in a tournament, so you get this advantage. You have to deserve it, that’s why I don’t understand it and I don’t agree.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m happy for the players who made it, but I think this is not acceptable. I hope the same thing doesn’t happen again later. It would be understandable if it went from 1000 in Guadalajara to 1000 here, but not from 500 tournaments to 1000 tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/72\/590x\/secondary\/4989047.jpg?r=1696241863544\")
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