Eight of the Top 10 players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings are set to compete at the China Open in Beijing, including debutants Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev. In addition to the star-studded ATP 500, this week will also see ATP 250 action at the Astana Open, where home favourite Alexander Bublik joins Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem in the field.

ATPTour.com looks ahead at 10 things to watch this week.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN BEIJING
1) Alcaraz Returns To Action: Alcaraz is set for his first tournament since his semi-final defeat to Medvedev at the US Open. The Spaniard enters Beijing just 770 points behind Novak Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, which also serves as a barometre for the battle for ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone. With strong results in Beijing and the following week at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, Alcaraz could leave Asia in fist place in the Live Race. He will face a qualifier in the first round in Beijing.

2) Medvedev Seeks To Extend Hard-Court Dominance: Medvedev has earned 38 hard-court wins this season, with the World No. 3 claiming four titles in 2023 on his favourite surface. Prior to his run to the US Open final, the 27-year-old’s hard-court form peaked earlier this season when he reached five straight ATP Tour finals, winning four titles, capped with a trophy at the Miami ATP Masters 1000 in early April. The Beijing second seed will need to be ready from the first point as he opens against World No. 13 Tommy Paul.

3) Rune, Sinner Seek Consistency: The 20-year-old Holger Rune and the 22-year-old Jannik Sinner are both in the top eight of both the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and the Pepperstone ATP Live Rice To Turin — but their positions are flipped across the two. World No. 4 Rune is clinging onto the all-important eighth spot in the Live Race, while World No. 7 Sinner is in fourth place in the Live Race, with a 1,310-point cushion over the Dane. They are seeded to meet in the quarter-finals in Beijing. Rune will open against Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sinner faces Daniel Evans.

4) Laver Cup Stars Make Trip To Asia: A host of Laver Cup competitors will make the journey from Vancouver to Beijing this week, including Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina from Team Europe and Auger-Aliassime and Paul from champions Team World. Stefanos Tsitsipas, who withdrew from Laver Cup with injury, is also in the ATP 500 field.

5) Zverev, Murray Among Other Big Names: The Beijing field has star power from top to bottom. World No. 12 Alexander Zverev will make the trip after a run to the Chengdu title, while Andy Murray travels from Zhuhai, where he was beaten by Aslan Karatsev in three sets in the second round. Murray opens against Alex de Minaur and could play Medvedev in the second round.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN ASTANA
1) Griekspoor Seeks Third Title: After winning the first two titles of his career this season in Pune and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Tallon Griekspoor hopes to continue his breakout season in Astana. He enters the event as the top seed, at a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 24.

2) Home Favourite Bublik: Kazakhstan’s Bublik has not won a singles match since his run to the Wimbledon fourth round (0-4). The 26-year-old will bid to get back on track with the support of the Kazakhstani fans in his home nation’s capital. The third seed will open against Marton Fucsovics or Sebastian Ofner

3) Wawrinka, Thiem Add More Star Power: Both Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem are competing in their first ATP Tour event since the US Open. Wawrinka reached the third round in New York (l. to Sinner) and then split a pair of Davis Cup matches, while Thiem was forced to retire in the US Open second round with an abdominal issue. The Swiss and Austrian could meet in the second round at the ATP 250 in a battle of former major champions.

4) Lehecka, Korda Lead Youth Movement: The 21-year-old Jiri Lehecka and the 23-year-old Sebastian Korda are both former Next Gen ATP Finals runners-up — Lehecka this past season (l. to Nakashima) and Korda in 2021 (l. to Alcaraz). Both will be among the seeds in Astana, with Korda entering after a semi-final run in Zhuhai.

5) Murray/Venus Lead Doubles Field: Jamie Murray and Michael Venus are the top seeds in the doubles draw, fresh off winning their fourth title of the season together in Zhuhai. The doubles field also includes Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow and the British-Finnish pairing of Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.

Alexander Zverev completed a hard-earned title run on Tuesday evening in China as he claimed a 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-3 championship match win against Roman Safiullin at the Chengdu Open.

Zverev sealed his third three-set win in four matches at the ATP 250 by holding firm in the face of a clean-hitting display from Safiullin, who was competing in his maiden tour-level final. Zverev was two points from defeat at 5/5 in the second-set tie-break but he raised his level to seal a two-hour, 56-minute triumph and claim his 21st tour-level crown.

“He’s playing the best tennis of his life for sure,” said Zverev of Safiullin. “The way he was winning this week, I think he beat a lot of great players quite easily, so I knew that he was playing well. Obviously, I’m happy to be able to come back and to win this title.”

The little jump of happiness 😂

Your 2023 #ChengduOpen Singles Champion: @AlexZverev 🏆@ChengduOpen pic.twitter.com/Cr3AWUysG4

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 26, 2023

Safiullin had lit up Chengdu with a series of clean-hitting displays en route to the final and he did not let up for the championship match, striking 33 winners to his opponent’s 25. He saved three set points from 4-5, 0/40 to win the opening set, but the World No. 10 Zverev dialled in behind his big first serve and finished the stronger as he improved to 14-6 in tour-level finals on hard courts.

Zverev, who also triumphed in Hamburg and reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros earlier this year, is now 46-21 for the year after missing the second half of the 2022 season with a serious ankle injury. His victory on debut in Chengdu also boosted his standing in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. Zverev is now in seventh place as he looks to return to for a sixth appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he is a two-time champion.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame’s annual Fan Voting is back again for 2023, with six accomplished ATP and WTA players among this year’s candidates for the Class of 2024. From 27 September through 9 October 2023, tennis fans around the world can cast their ballots to help these players achieve induction into the Hall of Fame.

The six nominees in the Player Category for the Class of 2024 are:

• Carlos Moyá of Spain, winner of 1998 Roland Garros and former World No. 1
• Daniel Nestor of Canada, a former doubles World No. 1 and winner of 12 major titles in doubles and mixed doubles
• Leander Paes of India, winner of 18 Grand Slam titles in doubles and mixed doubles and a former doubles World No. 1. He makes history as the first Asian man nominated for the Hall of Fame in the Player Category.
• Cara Black of Zimbabwe, former doubles World No. 1 and a 10-time Grand Slam champion in doubles and mixed doubles
• Ana Ivanović of Serbia, former World No. 1 and 2008 Roland Garros champion
• Flavia Pennetta of Italy, former doubles World No. 1 and 2015 US Open singles champion

Paes is a new addition to the ballot, while the other five players return in the Player Category.

Fans can learn more and weigh in with their ballots at vote.tennisfame.com during the voting period. While fans can only vote once, they may vote for as many candidates as they would like.

How The Vote Works:
The Official Voting Group, comprised of tennis journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers, will submit their vote.

The top three vote-getters in the Fan Vote will receive bonus percentage points on their result from the Official Voting Group. The candidate with the highest result in the Fan Vote will receive three additional percentage points, while second and third place will receive two and one additional percentage points, respectively.

To be elected, a candidate must receive an affirmative vote in 75 per cent or higher of ballots submitted from the Official Voting Group or a combined total of 75 per cent or higher from their Official Voting Group result and Fan Vote bonus percentage points.

The 2024 ballot will also include two nominees in the Contributor Category: former player and longtime broadcaster Vijay Amritraj and renowned journalist Richard Evans. (There is no fan voting for the Contributor Category.)

For additional information on the Class of 2023 Fan Vote and the ITHF’s induction process, visit tennisfame.com.

Karen Khachanov returned to the winners’ circle for the first time since 2018 on Tuesday when he captured the title at the Huafa Properties Zhuhai Championships.

The top seed overcame Japanese star Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6(2), 6-1 in the final at the Chinese ATP 250 hard-court event to clinch his fifth tour-level title and first since Paris nearly five years ago.

Khachanov played ‘big-man’ tennis throughout the one-hour, 43-minute clash. After recovering from squandering a break advantage in the first set to edge a tight opener, the 27-year-old opened his shoulders in the second set, unleashing on the forehand to overpower Nishioka.

Khachanov struck 34 winners, including nine aces, to improve to 4-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against the eighth seed. Khachanov was competing in just his second tour-level singles event since his Roland Garros quarter-final in May, when he suffered a stress fracture in his back. His victory in Zhuhai seals a stunning comeback week.

The top seed lost in the first round at the US Open on his return in August, but looked close to his best in Zhuhai, dropping just one set en route to the title. Khachanov, who also triumphed on Chinese soil in Chengdu in 2016, is up to No. 14 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Nishioka was competing in his fifth tour-level final and chasing his third title. His last tour-level crown came in Seoul in 2022.

Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul clinched their first ATP Tour title in thrilling fashion Tuesday, when they defeated Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 at the Chengdu Open.

French duo Doumbia and Reboul reeled off five consecutive points from 5/7 in the Match Tie-break to secure victory in one-hour, 52-minutes in China’s Sichuan province. The top seeds saved five of the six break points they faced to add a tour-level crown to the 15 ATP Challenger Tour titles they have won together since 2019.

The 33-year-old Doumbia and 28-year-old Reboul reached three tour-level semi-finals in 2022 and came close to becoming champions at that level for the first time in February, when they reached the championship match in Cordoba. After finally tasting title success by dropping just two sets all week in Chengdu, the French pair improved to 23-17 for the 2023 season.

Currently 17th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, Doumbia and Reboul will next head to Kazakhstan to compete at the Astana Open. They will hope another deep run at an ATP 250 can maintain their momentum as they eye a late qualification charge for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.

Jamie Murray and Michael Venus continued their impressive season on Tuesday when they captured their fourth tour-level title together at the Huafa Properties Zhuhai Championships.

The second seeds overcame third seeds Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 22 minutes to triumph at the Chinese ATP 250 hard-court event.

Murray and Venus, who dropped just one set en route to the title, saved all 13 break points they faced in the final, holding their nerve in the key stages to improve to 38-19 as a team in 2023.

The British-Kiwi pair is up three spots to ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings on 3,325 points. They are just 15 points behind eighth-placed Lammons and Withrow. Murray and Venus will aim to further boost their Nitto ATP Finals qualification chances when they compete in Astana this week.

“We know we need big results until the end of the year,” Murray said. “We know we need to win a lot of matches by the end of the year and this helps for sure. We’ve got plenty more big events to play until the end of the year that we will try to do well in to give yourselves the best chance of getting to Turin.”

Murray and Venus have improved to 3-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Lammons and Withrow, while they have now won four trophies together this year, also triumphing in Dallas, Banja Luka and Geneva.

Americans Lammons and Withrow were chasing their fourth title of the season. They are 43-22 in 2023.

The China Open draw has thrown up a host of intriguing first-round matches. Third seed Holger Rune meets Felix Auger-Aliassime, former champion Andy Murray will renew his Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry with Alex de Minaur and second seed Daniil Medvedev meets Turin hopeful Tommy Paul. Medvedev could play Murray in the second round.

The ATP 500 hard-court event, which is taking place for the first time since 2019, features eight of the Top 10 players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. World No. 2 and top seed Carlos Alcaraz faces a qualifier on debut and could play Karen Khachanov or Lorenzo Musetti in the second round.

The Spaniard, who has won six tour-level trophies this year, is seeded to meet Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals. The seventh seed opens against Jan-Lennard Struff, who returned from injury last week in Zhuhai.

Rune is also in the top half and could play 22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals. Denmark’s Rune is eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin and will hope for a deep run to boost his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals. Sixth seed Sinner meets Washington champion Daniel Evans in the first round.

Alexander Zverev, seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, is seeded to take on Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals. Zverev opens against Diego Schwartzman, while Tsitsipas plays Nicolas Jarry. Fifth seed Andrey Rublev is in the bottom half and opens against Briton Cameron Norrie.

#NextGenATP Chinese star Shang Juncheng carries home hopes in Beijing. The 18-year-old begins against Yoshihito Nishioka.

As Karen Khachanov and Yoshihito Nishioka prepared for the resumption of elite tennis in Zhuhai a week ago, neither man was fully convinced they would be contending for the crown come the final.

Both men enjoyed bright starts to the season but then endured a rough patch after Roland Garros, with a back injury forcing Khachanov to the sidelines and a form slump hitting Nishioka’s confidence.

But after a superb week at the Huafa Properties Zhuhai Championships, including strong semi-final wins, the two players are one triumph away from claiming their first ATP Tour title for 2023.

Khachanov, the top seed, showed greater poise on pivotal points when edging Sebastian Korda 7-5 6-4 on Monday, while the eighth-seeded Nishioka progressed past an ailing Aslan Karatsev 6-4 6-4.

It will be the fifth Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between the pair, with Khachanov leading their series 3-1, the most recent of which was a straight set triumph in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January.

Nishioka had claimed their previous encounter in Washington a year earlier but said he was thrown by the tactics deployed by Khachanov when beaten 6-0 6-0 7-6 (4) at Melbourne Park.

“It’s going to be a very tough match for me tomorrow because at the Aussie Open, he played a bit of a different way. I was very confused to play against him … and he knew how to play against me,” he said.

“But the surface here is a little bit faster and this is a different heat as well. I know what he is going to do me, so I need to fix that and maybe if I can do pretty well, maybe I will have a chance.”

Khachanov, who is seeking his fifth ATP Tour title but first since 2018, praised his Japanese rival as a great tactician on the court and is mindful he will need to perform well to claim the title.

“Nishioka, his main strength are his legs and his backhand. His flat backhand. He controls it very well. These are his main weapons,” he said.

“He knows how to play. He also puts you in difficult positions. He is a very smart and intelligent player.”

Timing is critical in tennis and for Nishioka, there is no sweeter spot on the Tour than the week he celebrates his birthday, with the left-hander turning 28 on the day after Tuesday night’s final.

Last year the No. 46 player in the Pepperstone ATP Tour Rankings claimed his second title when winning in Seoul in the week of his birthday.

In 2018 in Shenzhen, Nishioka came from qualifying to win his maiden ATP Tour title in the last week of September.

“This is pretty interesting. I have no idea why this (is a) week I always have a good time. Maybe it is (because) it is my birthday week, or something,” Nishioka said.

“It is amazing. Two times a title in this week and now I have the chance to win another title in this week.

“I wasn’t expecting (this). It is a little bit of a surprise. Yesterday was my best match in a couple of months and, little by little, I am playing better on these courts, this surface and in this heat.”

Khachanov was disappointed to miss Wimbledon after reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the quarter-finals of Roland Garros, and he was still building his fitness when he resumed at the US Open.

He has trained solidly since then but was not certain how long it would take him to recapture the form that saw him return to the Top 10 midway through this year.

“There is one thing you wish and you would like and the other thing is reality,” he said.

“So if you had asked me during the past three weeks, I was progressing and I was able to train and do more things that I was not able, let’s say, prior to the US Open or at the US Open.

“It is just a fact. I was not as ready as I am now. But I had a good block when I felt much better and there was a point… where I felt my tennis was coming back, but it was still on the practice court. I needed to play matches and tournaments. It is another process you need to go through.

“My wishes were to do well from the beginning but the expectation was… that I would fight and give my best and to see how I would go.”

In the doubles final, second seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus will play American pairing Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow in a match preceding the singles decider.

Terence Atmane would be happy to demonstrate a magic trick with playing cards, talk about his 158 IQ score, or comment on his two recent titles on the ATP Challenger Tour.

But mention the Next Gen ATP Finals contender’s lifelong Pokémon card collection, which he started in 2007, and the 21-year-old Frenchman lights up.

“I have one of the biggest collections in France,” Atmane told ATPTour.com. “I [am] planning to put a video on my Instagram showing the collection that I have by the end of the year with some subtitles and everything. Like 10, 15 minutes to show people what it is about, so they can learn a little bit more about me and my collection, the story all about it and how it started and why.

“When I was a little kid, I was watching Pokémon on TV. It came pretty naturally, at school and everything, people were talking about these Pokémon cards and it was pretty famous in the world at that time. I remember I was playing with my friends in school and then somehow I started collecting this when I was a little boy. And this little boy still has his collection from that time.”

Atmane’s favourite card in his collection is the ‘Kyogre ex’ from the 2007 Crystal Guardians set.

“It’s like the highest grade that you can have for Pokémon cards,” Atmane said. “I bought it from a friend of mine. Once he received the card I told him, ‘Okay, I want to buy it because it’s one of my favourite cards of all time.’ So I was like I’m going to [pay] the price no matter what’s the price.” 

The #NextGenATP star loves all things anime, manga and video games. Ironically, if it were not for video games, Atmane may not be a professional tennis player. The lefty started playing the sport at age seven, thanks to the PlayStation game Virtua Tennis and Wii Sports.

“I was playing all day every day. One day my mom came back home and she said, ‘Okay, enough of video games, I’m going to buy you a tennis racquet and then let’s go to a tennis club and try,’” Atmane said. “Since then, I’ve never stopped playing tennis.”

Now Atmane is one of the fastest-rising stars on the ATP Challenger Tour. In the past 12 months, he has soared more than 200 spots in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and currently sits at a career-high World No. 149. Atmane has collected two ATP Challenger Tour titles within the past month: Zhangjiagang and Guangzhou.

During each title run, Atmane rallied from the brink of defeat. In Zhangjiagang, he fended off six match points in the opening round en route to his first Challenger trophy. Two weeks ago in Guangzhou, Atmane saved three championship points to defeat Australian Marc Polmans after three hours in which the Frenchman was suffering from cramps.

Terence Atmane wins the Challenger 75 event in Guangzhou, China.” />
^{Terence Atmane wins the Challenger 75 event in Guangzhou, China. Credit: Guangzhou Nansha International Challenger}
“I knew that when I was going to come back on hard court that I was going to play good, but playing that good? No, I wasn’t really ready for this,” Atmane said. “I played five Challengers, two semis, two titles, so I guess the hard work is paying off. On one hand, I’m surprised. On the other hand, I’m not really surprised because I was ready to play good on hard courts.”

Nicknamed ‘The Magician’, the 6’4″ Atmane could also be called fearless. In his ATP Tour debut in Zhuhai, Atmane raced to a 6-0 lead against eighth seed Yoshihito Nishioka before the Japanese star mounted a comeback. Despite Atmane’s loss, fans were introduced to his aggressive style, in some ways akin to his idol, former World No. 5 Fernando Gonzalez.

“I’m going full on everything, I try to take every opportunity that I have, every short ball that I have to destroy the ball,” Atmane said. “I try to serve as fast and as hard as I can. I have a pretty big forehand… It’s extremely risky and it’s also really intense, physically and mentally.”

Atmane, who is 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah, is aiming for maiden qualification at the Next Gen ATP Finals. He is one of four Frenchman in the Top 12 of the Race To Jeddah and with only eight spots up for grabs, Atmane is hoping to continue his success and potentially be in Saudi Arabia alongside his best friend Arthur Cazaux, who is currently in 10th place.

“We’re talking about it pretty much all the time like, ‘It would be awesome if we were both there,’” Atmane said. “But I told him every time that it’s not a big deal if I’m not there and if he’s not there, it doesn’t mean that we’re not good players. We try to play our best tennis and see by the end of the year if we are both in the Next Gen.”