Rune vs. Felix, Murray vs. De Minaur; Beijing Draw Throws Up R1 Thrillers

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.