Wk.39- From Beijing with Love (& Upsets)
Day 4 at the China Open ends with a bang as World No. 118 Alina Charaeva stuns Elena Rybakina in her first match as World No.1 This is only the second time a freshly-crowned World No.1 loses her first match on top of the rankings. https://t.co/oBNfuTq7dY
— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) October 3, 2026


Wang Xiyu takes women’s singles gold! 🥇🇨🇳 After yesterday’s hard-fought comeback, Wang delivered a commanding performance in the final, beating compatriot Zhang Shuai 6–2 6–1. Gold for Wang, silver for Zhang—a proud day for Chinese tennis in Nagoya! 🎾 #AichiNagoya2026 #AsianGames2026 #AsianTennis
— Asian Tennis Federation (@asian_tennis) October 2, 2026
Four players, one proud moment on the podium! 🏅🎾 Celebrating the women’s singles medalists at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026: 🥇 Wang Xiyu — China 🥈 Zhang Shuai — China 🥉 Alexandra Eala — Philippines 🥉 Yuliya Putintseva — Kazakhstan Congratulations to all four players on bringing home a medal for their nations! 🇨🇳🇵🇭🇰🇿 #AichiNagoya2026 #AsianGames2026 #AsianTennis
— Asian Tennis Federation (@asian_tennis) October 2, 2026
Congrats Xiyu WANG won the Asian Games singles championship 🏆🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/fkshHK1jIu
\— Shuai Zhang (@zhangshuai121) October 2, 2026
Speaking of schedules, with the WTA's just-announced 2027 slate including a first-time tour-level stop in Manila, where Eala is *sure* to want to take part, if the Filipina should be in the position to qualify for next year's WTAF (which will have to alter format somewhat to fit into its new five-day cubicle) she'd have to make a quick turnaround with *that* event taking place immediately after Manila... half way around the globe in North Carolina. Meanwhile, Snigur put together back-to-back comeback victories in Beijing to reach the 3rd Round at a 1000 event for the first time. The Ukrainian rallied from a set down and 4-2 in the 3rd to nip Katarzyna Kawa in a 7-5 3rd set in the 1st Round, then defeated Jasmine Paolini from a set and 4-2 down in a 2nd set TB to win in three in the 2nd Round. It's just another item added to the career resume of the 2019 Wimbedon girls' champ. In '26, Snigur has already put up her highest match win total (43 after the 2r) in a season, cracked the Top 50, reached her first tour-level final (Prague) as well as another SF (Cluj), posted her best result in a major (Wimbledon 3rd, with an upset of #8 Svitolina) and won her biggest-ever singles title in a 125 in Oeiras in February.
INCREDIBLE RALLY 😲
— wta (@WTA) September 30, 2026
Daria Snigur produces a moment of magic in Beijing, closing out a crazy rally against Kawa.#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/HyAdbsCIaL
BELIEVE IT, ALINA 🔥🔥🔥
— wta (@WTA) October 3, 2026
Alina Charaeva just took out World No. 1 Elena Rybakina in Beijing.#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/R2Ldf6pQxM
Meanwhile, 21-year old Hordette Shubladze's breakout campaign (at least on the lower levels) added another benchmark with her first career 125 title in Jingshan, China. Shubladze has been a star on the challenger circuit in '26, topping the season title list (w/ Brit Alicia Dudeney) with five wins after breezing through a 34-5 stretch from February through May. But she's yet to make her tour-level MD debut. Shubladze got a little bit closer to that in Jingshan, posting wins over #3-seeded Emerson Jones (SF) and top seed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in a 6-3/6-2 final. 55-15 on the year, she'll rise to a new "live" career high of #133 before the next rankings arrive in two Mondays, while looking to (hopefully) get a chance soon to play her first WTA MD contest.
21-year-old Alexandra Shubladze caps off her dream week in style! She defeats top seed and World No.96 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-3, 6-2 to win the WTA125 Jingshan Open title and will crack the Top 140! First career Top 100 win, and she was ranked 530+ at this point last year. https://t.co/smkhsECsoA
— WTARussians (@WTArussians) October 4, 2026
WTA125 Jingshan champion, Alexandra Shubladze! This is her 70th match of the 2026 season and her 55th win. Ranked 676th at this exact time last year, she has improved her ranking by over 500 spots with strong results in the China ITF events over the year. https://t.co/ylwAmhUppc
— WTARussians (@WTArussians) October 4, 2026
Shubladze also reached the doubles final in Jingshan (w/ Sofya Lansere), losing to Brits Madeleine Brooks & Amelia Rajecki in a 10-6 MTB (after splitting a pair of TB sets).
JEANJEAN BAT BOISSON EN FINALE 🏆 Au terme d’un match marqué par 13 breaks et une interruption pluie, Leolia Jeanjean domine Loïs Boisson et remporte le WTA 125 d’Adana. 🇫🇷👏 La Française fait son retour dans le Top 100. 📊 https://t.co/0ltAFEPmVx
— Avantage Tennis 🎾 (@AvantageTennis_) October 4, 2026
Britain’s Sonay Kartal marked her return to the WTA Tour with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Andrea Lazaro Garcia at the China Open. The 24-year-old, who had been sidelined for almost six months with a lower-back injury, will face China’s Wang Xinyu next. #SonayKartal #ChinaOpen #WTA #Tennis #BritishTennis
— Alkass English (@alkassenglish) October 1, 2026
In Adana, Turkey, Boisson posted her best result since her latest return from injury. A RG semifinalist last year after recovering from a knee injury, Boisson picked up her maiden tour title last July in Hamburg before being sidelined yet again in the fall with another leg injury, which was followed by knee and elbow issues during the offseason. She made her return to the court in April, but came into the week at just 4-12 in her comeback and having fallen all the way down to #274. After a qualifying loss to Fiona Crawley, Boisson entered the MD as a lucky loser and went on a season-making (so far) run, posting four additional wins (giving her five for the week, more than she'd had all season) over the likes of Lucia Bronzetti, Martyna Kubka, Anna Blinkova (her new fellow Pastry) and Erika Andreeva to set up an all-FRA final with Leolia Jeanjean.
THE ROAR😭😭😭💜💜💜LOIS BOISSON https://t.co/iLfY68Wfwl
— ann (@nowayholmes) October 3, 2026
In the title match, Boisson forced a 3rd set from 6-3/4-2 down, and denied Jeanjean when she served for the win at 5-3 in the 3rd (w/ a MP). But after taking a 40/love lead while trying to hold and knot the decider at 5-5, Boisson couldn't slow Jeanjean down the stretch, as she ultimately came back to get the break and converted on her third MP chance.
16 year old Sun Xinran defeats #35 Cristina Bucsa 6-4, 7-5 to reach the 3rd round in Beijing.
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 3, 2026
Faces Coco Gauff next.
What a story. pic.twitter.com/iuMQOeNJu6
And the journey continues 🤩
— wta (@WTA) October 3, 2026
Sun Xinran completes the biggest win of her career by defeating Bucsa in straight sets 6-4, 7-5.#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/oyU2a89m4n
Meanwhile, might Bartunkova be the next Czech who'll be making big waves in the late stages of big events come 2027? If so, she's already getting a head start on things. Though she reached a SF at the Guadalajara 500 *last* year, 2026 has been the season during which the 20-year old has introduced herself to the majority of the tour. She reached the 3rd Round in her AO (getting a Top 10 win in just her second MD match in a major, def. Bencic), Wimbledon and U.S. slam debuts, as well as the Rome 4th Round in her first career 1000 MD appearance. With her wins in Beijing, Bartunkova has posted at least one win in each of her first 1000 MD appearances (in Rome, Toronto, Cincinnati and this week). Installed as the #26 seed, after a victory over Magdalena Frech, Bartunkova slammed the hammer down on far bigger prey in the form of #2 Aryna Sabalenka, handing the Belarusian a rare straight sets defeat, 6-4/6-3, for the biggest win of her career.
Bartunkova d. Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 6-3 in Beijing World #2 is out Nikola gets the best win of her life It’s hard to believe she’s only 20 years old by the way she plays tennis…what a beautiful all-court game ✅2nd WTA 1000 R16 ✅2nd top 10 win Czech talent is sizzling 🇨🇿❤️ https://t.co/kXIT9muQDY
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) October 4, 2026
World No. 114 Lisa Pigato d. Eva Vedder (#201) 1-6, 6-0, 6-3 to win the W75 here at @thecampusqdl in Quinta do Lago. It’s her 2nd title in a row on Portuguese soil (won a WTA 125 in Caldas da Rainha two weeks ago) & 5th of the year. New career-high with a top 100 debut in sight. https://t.co/KIcDxZ4DYK
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) October 4, 2026
Jordyn Hazelitt (16, 🇺🇸) won Osaka 🇯🇵J500 both in singles & doubles w/Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi 🇮🇳
— FranzyBl (@FranzyBl) September 28, 2026
In singles Jordyn lost only one set in whole event in a really tough and close match vs 14yo Elizaveta Anikina 🇪🇪, who pushed her to 3 very close sets
📷 Jordyn Hazelitt IG
1/3 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/zbpWuUVHYh
Hazelitt won the North American Regional Championships (J300) in San Diego in March, and during the summer made her slam qualifying debut at this year's U.S. Open after winning the USTA's Qualifying Wild Card Challenger event (def. eventual girls' semifinalist Melije Clarke in the final).
A FAMILY FEUD IN THE FINAL!! 💥 The decades-long beef culminates right back where it all started- at the Asian Games, twenty years on! Tomorrow, Hsieh Su-Wei takes on Chan Hao-Ching for a gold medal in the women's doubles at Aichi-Nagoya! https://t.co/hu71pHpNST
— ASIAN GAMES CHAMP! (@hsieh_n_wong) October 2, 2026
Gold for Hsieh Su-wei and Liang En-shuo! 🥇🎾
— Asian Tennis Federation (@asian_tennis) October 3, 2026
The Chinese Taipei pair beat compatriots Chan Hao-ching and Wu Fang-hsien 6–4 4–6 (10–5)in a closely contested women’s doubles final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026.
Two sets couldn’t separate them. A deciding match tiebreak… pic.twitter.com/j0GoTbfBzF
Hsieh also won a Bronze in the Mixed Doubles, but didn't have the opportunity to defeat Chan along the way. Once again, here's the long history of the bitter (and still ongoing) feud between Hsieh and the Chan family...
The full beef between the Hsieh and Chan families, a 35-post thread 🧵
— ASIAN GAMES CHAMP! (@hsieh_n_wong) September 8, 2026
Searching for the full tea between the Hsiehs and Chans? Look no further. pic.twitter.com/U0U8Z0wCmz
This is brilliant, BTW...
If the Taiwanese tennis feud was a Netflix TV series... As Su-Wei and Chan Hao-Ching prepare to butt heads again, I put together this edit to show what an intro to such a series might look like! Turn your sound on and enjoy ❤️ https://t.co/IS0iom4Jba
— ASIAN GAMES CHAMP! (@hsieh_n_wong) October 3, 2026
In the Mixed Doubles final, Shibahara teamed with Jay Friend to win her maiden Asian Games medal, taking the Gold with a 6-3/6-4 victory over another Japanese pair, Shuko Aoyama and Yusuke Kusuhara.
🎾 Gold stayed home either way.
— Olympic Council of Asia (@AsianGamesOCA) October 3, 2026
In an all-Japan final, Ena Shibahara and Jay Friend outlasted compatriots Shuko Aoyama and Yusuke Kusuhara 6-3, 6-4 to win the tennis mixed doubles title at Aichi-Nagoya.#20thAsianGames #AichiNagoya2026 #Tennis #ImagineOneAsia pic.twitter.com/TFbi8Kaukn
Shibahara and Aoyama have teamed up to win ten tour-level WD titles over the years, including a pair of 1000 crowns in Miami (2021) and Montreal (2023), as well as reaching the AO23 final (a loss to two Czechs... you can probably guess their names).

CAREER DEFINING WIN 🤯
\\\\\\\— wta (@WTA) October 3, 2026
Alina Charaeva defeats the World No.1 Rybakina in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/VQKWMMPWNb
118 - Since the WTA rankings were first published in 1975, Alina Charaeva (#118) has become the lowest-ranked player to claim a comeback win against the World No. 1. Wild!#ChinaOpen | @ChinaOpen @WTA pic.twitter.com/UJewnFnI4Y
\\\— OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 3, 2026
She gets it done 🔥 Nikola Bartunkova secures the win of her career defeating No.2 seed Sabalenka in straight sets! #ChinaOpen https://t.co/2NHzzCGrKT
— wta (@WTA) October 4, 2026
Advancing to Round 2 on her Tour-level debut 🌟
\\\\\\\— wta (@WTA) October 1, 2026
16-year-old Xinran Sun is into the second round in Beijing!#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/4rNh0cfJQV
This level from Sun Xinran against Eva Lys is ridiculous https://t.co/2GWDJF1D6Y
— Saoirse Mulrane (@SaoirseMulrane) October 1, 2026
16, 69 - Xinran Sun (16y 69d at tournament start) is now the fourth-youngest player to win a WTA-1000 main draw match since the format\\\'s introduction in 2009. Progress.#ChinaOpen | @ChinaOpen @WTA pic.twitter.com/4qtyyBicRO
\\\— OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 1, 2026
Sun reached the girls' singles final at the last three majors, finally winning her first last month at the U.S. Open.
She is on a mission ‼️@DKasatkina is playing some unbelievable tennis against Badosa in Beijing.#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/YfPHmCUAB8
\\\\\\\— wta (@WTA) October 1, 2026
Closes it out 🔥@paulabadosa defeats Kasatkina in a three-set battle in Beijing.#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/BdfLWPFQGW
\\\— wta (@WTA) October 1, 2026
The loss is the fifth straight for Kasatkina, the second in the stretch vs. Badosa (who won their 1st Rd. U.S. Open match-up). Since the Aussie won a straight sets match in the RG 2nd Round over Susan Bandecchi, she's gone 5-11. In all five of those victories she had to go to three sets to get the win, coming back from dropping the 1st set four times. In other words, Kasatkina has been *this close* to a 1-15 slide.
Win secured ✅
\\\\\\\— wta (@WTA) October 3, 2026
Jelena Ostapenko completes an incredible performance against Badosa.#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/W8jj0yI6yZ
Badosa was up: 5-3 in set 1 5-3 in set 2 Sets won: 0 Pretty bad choke against big Ostapenko, who plays more doubles than singles these days. https://t.co/BVhLk9wVOh
— Tennis King (@TennisKingHQ) October 3, 2026
How does one apply to become one of the Ostapenko Ultras? https://t.co/lb3OKQDI3t pic.twitter.com/dknBLOhqWO
\\\— Steven Mills (@StevenMtennis) October 3, 2026
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! 🤯
\\\— wta (@WTA) September 30, 2026
Sinja Kraus and Joint producing a rally for the ages in Beijing.#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/NLSz7uXoNr
Comeback complete 😤 @karomuchova7 outlasts Samsonova for a place in the Round of 16! #ChinaOpen https://t.co/UqwhKMivOA
— wta (@WTA) October 4, 2026
Through to the next round ✅
\\\\\\\— wta (@WTA) September 30, 2026
Yuan Yue closes it out over Oliynykova!#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/DuG4fnGepH
Qinwen Zheng advances to the 3rd round in Beijing as Anna Kalinskaya is forced to retire down 0-3 in the 3rd set.
\\\\\\\— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) October 3, 2026
It was an exciting match until Anna started struggling with something physically… sad way to see this end.
Hopefully Anna will be at her best for the rest of the… pic.twitter.com/NbH3JePzEU
🇪🇸 Charo Esquiva dio el salto al tenis profesional hace tres semanas tras participar en el cuadro junior del #USOpen a sus 18 años y… ➖ Challenger Valencia 🏆 W50 Yecla 🏆 W35 Baza De la Vega Baja para capitanear el tenis femenino español en el futuro. https://t.co/EiGAcMYjg3
— José Manuel Amorós (@AmorosLive) October 4, 2026
she won another one in the same place, cuz why not https://t.co/enSVQ5lbFK
— til polarity's end 🎾⚡Slamdreeva era⚡⚫⚪ (@lildarkcage) October 4, 2026
And after winning in Simona Halep's hometown of Constanta last week, 16-year old Romanian Popa won her *third* straight challenger title in Varna, extending her winning streak to 15 matches since the start of September. Popa has won four pro titles in '26. From last week's title run...

Incredibly vulnerable and illuminating update from Emma Navarro on what she’s been dealing with the last few years, and it’s far more complex than past reporting has indicated.
— Jessica Schiffer (@jessicaschiffer) September 30, 2026
I highly recommend reading the whole thing on her Instagram. It’s just another reminder that you… pic.twitter.com/7X0SGq1bZE

Karolina Pliskova will miss the rest of the season. pic.twitter.com/yF1EAgz6GG
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) September 29, 2026
Amanda Anisimova ends her 2026 season due to a wrist injury:
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 28, 2026
“Hi everyone,
I will be wrapping up my season for the year 🫶🏻🥹 I sustained a wrist injury again, that I need to take care of. Time to get healthy, reset, and see you all in 2027 🙏🏻☝🏻🐼”
Disappointing way to end the… pic.twitter.com/lFbEjCpZgN

The brand new Grand Slam Player Council announced yesterday. pic.twitter.com/UdTip7wkAr
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) September 29, 2026

The WTA agreed to host their finals at a NBA stadium during the NBA season knowing they will have to cut their tournament from eight days to five days?
— Adam_Addicott (@AdamAddicott) September 16, 2026
So with the shortening of the length of the WTA Finals, there will be some sort of format change. Clearly it'll move away from round robin to knock-out, which I personally prefer. It'd be great if they could find a way to use this to maybe increase the player field from the current eight, maybe by giving the Top 2 (or 4) seeds opening round byes. Let's just hope they don't try to be "groundbreaking" and change playing out full 3rd set to a gimmicky first-to-10-points format or something stupid like that.

wtf https://t.co/u4FTN43nxe
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 3, 2026

一枚银牌有啥可嘚瑟的 不过却是一个弥足珍贵的单打决赛🛬飞行中欢迎评论 pic.twitter.com/cImg7noHO8
— Shuai Zhang (@zhangshuai121) October 3, 2026

On this day in 1988, Steffi Graf completed the Golden Slam:
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) October 1, 2026
🏆 Australian Open
🏆 Roland Garros
🏆 Wimbledon
🏆 US Open
🥇 Olympics pic.twitter.com/NR3KDNOFYJ

@grasslenka https://t.co/bo1mHAjpvI
— El Michi invisible 👻😼 (@ElGato692p) October 4, 2026
We will never see anything like this again in our lifetimes.
— 🎸 Rock History 🎸 (@historyrock_) October 30, 2025
If you have a few minutes, watch it. Probably the greatest music video ever made.
Michael Jackson - Thriller (1983) pic.twitter.com/ryLTmEPJL7
— Pat Bagley (@bagleycartoons.bsky.social) October 1, 2026 at 6:31 PM



Missing those on-court coaching sessions? 😜 Happy birthday to the best coach in the world! @darren_cahill 🤗🎂
— Simona Halep (@Simona_Halep) October 2, 2026
📷 Getty Images pic.twitter.com/lAed6TwOuw

Penko really took the Seoul wildcard just to get K-beauty treatment and products 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ojDMfZi84c
— moonball enthusiast (@ninjaga20) September 29, 2026
360 SHOT FROM MUCHOVA 😱@karomuchova7 | #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/MzEZKhhbxw
— wta (@WTA) October 2, 2026
TRUTH: All praise and appreciation to Muchova, but *I've* actually had to hit that shot -- 360-and-all -- several times in the past (the first one, of course, but not the second one... unfortunately) while charging the net trying to do a Novotna imitation. In Muchova's bag of tricks, it's a flashy, but still fairly minor, highlight.
Wimbledon champion, BJK Cup champion... the list of reasons to smile for Linda Noskova is steadily growing this year.. pic.twitter.com/6eDrDuYo9K
— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) October 1, 2026

*LOW-RANKED WINS OVER #1 - 2020-26*
#164 - 2025 Berlin SF - Marketa Vondrousova/CZE (Sabalenka)-W
#118 - 2026 Beijing 2r - Alina Charaeva/ARM (Rybakina)
#76 - 2023 Wimbledon QF - Elina Svitolina/UKR (Swiatek)
#71 - 2021 Charleston QF - Paula Badosa/ESP (Barty)
#53 - 2020 Brisbane 2r - Jennifer Brady/USA (Barty)
#50 - 2024 Australian Open 3r - Linda Noskova/CZE (Swiatek)
*ASIAN GAMES SINGLES MEDALISTS (since 1994)*
[Gold]
1994 Kimiko Date, JPN
1998 Yayuk Basuki, JPN
2002 Iroda Tulyaganova, UZB
2006 Zheng Jie, CHN
2010 Peng Shuai, CHN
2014 Wang Qiang, CHN
2018 Wang Qiang, CHN
2023 Zheng Qinwen, CHN
2026 Wang Xiyu, CHN
[Silver]
1994 Naoko Sawamatsu, JPN
1998 Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
2002 Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
2006 Sania Mirza, IND
2010 Akgul Amanmuradova, UZB
2014 Luksika Kumkhum, THA
2018 Zhang Shuai, CHN
2023 Zhu Lin, CHN
2026 Zhang Shuai, CHN
[Bronze(tie)]
1994 Yayuk Basuki/INA and Chen Li/CHN
1998 Li Fang/CHN and Yi Jingqian/CHN
2002 Shinobu Asagoe/JPN and Choo Yoon-jeon/KOR
2006 Li Na/CHN and Aiko Nakamura/JPN
2010 Kimiko Date-Krumm/JPN and Sania Mirza/IND
2014 Misa Eguchi/JPN and Eri Hozumi/JPN
2018 Ankita Raina/IND and Liang En-shou/TPE
2023 Alex Eala/PHI and Haruka Kaji/JPN
2026 Alex Eala/PHI and Yulia Putintseva/KAZ
*ASIAN GAMES DOUBLES GOLD MEDALISTS (since 1994)*
[WD]
1994 Kyoko Nagatsuka/Ai Sugiyama, JPN
1998 Li Fang/Chen Li, CHN
2002 Kim Mi-ok/Choi Young-ja, KOR
2006 Zheng Jie/Yan Zi, CHN
2010 Latisha Chan/Chuang Chia-jung, TPE
2014 Luksika Kumkhum/Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
2018 Xu Yifan/Yang Zhaoxuan, CHN
2023 Chan Hao-ching/Latisha Chan, TPE
2026 Hsieh Su-wei/Liang En-shuo, TPE
[MX]
1994 Li Fang/Xia Jiaping, CHN
1998 Nana Miyagi/Satoshi Iwabuchi, JPN
2002 Janet Lee/Lu Yen-hsun, TPE
2006 Sania Mirza/Leander Paes, IND
2010 Latisha Chan/Yang Tsung-hua, TPE
2014 Sania Mirza/Sakath Myneni, IND
2018 Aldila Sutjiadi/Christopher Rungkat, INA
2023 Rutuja Bhosale/Rohan Bopanna, IND
2026 Ena Shibahara/Jay Friend, JPN


— JoyousPanther (@joyouspanther.bsky.social) October 4, 2026 at 12:04 PM

Little bugger 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/kCxSwRKtpM
— TheManWhoFellToEarth (@ReturnofColin2) October 2, 2026

— That Old Broadbean (@thatoldbear.bsky.social) October 4, 2026 at 2:39 AM
































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