Chengdu, September 23, 2017

CHENGDU OPEN 2017 MAIN DRAW ANNOUNCED

 

 

The second edition of the Chengdu Open officially got underway today here at the Sichuan International Tennis Center in the Shuangliu province of Chengdu.

 

Along with qualifying rounds being played over three courts, the highlight of the day was the Singles Main Draw ceremony that was held at 3pm, which featured local rising star and tournament wild card Yibing Wu.

 

With top four seeds receiving first round byes, early attention will shift to matches featuring the fifth to eighth seeds along with a number of intriguing ties featuring wild cards and closely ranked players.

 

Fifth seed world No.42 Yuichi Sugita received a favourable tie against a qualifier, while sixth seed world No.45 Kyle Edmund, who has made two semifinals since July, will need to get past former world No.17 (Jan 2016) Bernard Tomic in the first round.
 
Seventh seeded Serbian Viktor Troicki, a former world No.12, has a potentially tricky tie against Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili, who made his second career final at Memphis in February this year and achieved a career best ranking of No.51 in June. The Georgian could yet make his third career final before coming to Chengdu if he overcomes Frenchman Benoît Paire in the semifinal of the Moselle Open later today. 

 

Meanwhile, Argentinian eighth seed Leonardo Mayer, who lifted his second career title on the clay courts of Hamburg in July, takes on Newport semifinalist Peter Gojowczyk of Germany in his opening encounter.

 

Other notable first round matches will see Uzbek Denis Istomin taking on German Jan-Lenard Struff and Tour favourite Marcos Baghdatis commencing his campaign against Canada’s Vasek Pospisil.

 

Struff is in a good vein of form, having hit his career high of No.44 in May and making the St. Petersburg semifinals this weekend, while former world No.25 Pospisil has only beaten the former world No.8 Baghdatis once in their last four encounters, although the Canadian is currently ranked 41 spots higher at No.81.

 

Last year’s champion Karen Khachanov will face the winner of the match between Istomin and Struff as he aims to defend his maiden title here in Chengdu.


The most exciting first round ties for local fans will certainly be those featuring two Chinese wild cards - Di Wu and Yibing Wu.

 

Di Wu, who made the second round last year in Chengdu before falling to Dominic Thiem, has a good chance of repeating that feat as he faces a qualifier in the first round.

 

Dubbed the ‘next Chinese tennis sensation’, Yibing Wu recently picked up his maiden titles in some style - winning both the US Open Junior singles and doubles titles earlier this month before following that up with powerful run in Shanghai to win his first Challenger title just last week.

 

The 17-year-old is playing in his first ATP 250 tournament here in Chengdu and has a decent opportunity to pick up his first Tour win in front of home crowds against Brazilian Thiago Montiero, who is ranked at No.114 on the Tour.

 

Austrian top seed Thiem, at a career high of No.7, will begin his campaign facing the winner of the first round match between Argentinian Guido Pella and Croat Borna Coric.

 

The doubles main draw was also announced today, with both Chinese wild card pairings set to face off against seeded pairs in the first round.

 

Former Serbian world No.1 Nenad Zimonjic will pair up for the first time on Tour with Mexican Santiago Gonzalez as the third seeds take on Chinese wild card duo Fajing Sun and Rigele Te.

 

Meanwhile, fourth seeds Dominic Inglot of Great Britain and Canadian Daniel Nestor, who picked up their first title as a pair on the grass courts of Nottingham last year, will take on the other Chinese wild card pair - Di Wu and Yibing Wu.

 

The top seeds in the doubles, Austrian Oliver Marach and Croat Mate Pavic, have already made three grass finals this year, including at Wimbledon, and will meet Israeli Pakistani duo Jonathan Erlich and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in the first round as they aim to make their mark on the hard courts here in Chengdu.

 

The second seeded pair consisting of Chile’s Julio Peralta (at a career high doubles rank of No. 34) and 2017 Roland Garros doubles champ Michael Venus (w/ Ryan Harrison) will meet Borna Coric and Guido Pella in their first round tie.

 

All eight first round qualifying matches were played this afternoon after a slight rain delay, with five of seven seeded players moving into tomorrow’s finals.


Twenty-five-year old local star Chuhan Wang notched the biggest upset of the day when he defeated qualifying eighth seed Jose Statham of New Zealand 6-2, 6-2 in 72 minutes.

 

Twenty-year-old Chinese wild card Zihao Xia notched an impressive win, defeating another New Zealander, Michael Venus, 7-6 (4), 7-6(4) in an enthralling match on Stadium Court.

 

Croat Mate Pavic also moved into final qualifying round with an epic 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4) win over Japanese fifth seeded qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama in two hours and 11 minutes.

 

The finals of the qualifying rounds commence at 1pm tomorrow on Stadium Court.

 

There will be free admission to qualifying round matches and court 1 and 2 matches. Tickets for the Chengdu Open main draw center court matches through to the finals will range in price from RMB 30 to RMB 400 and are available through www.damai.cn and www.piao.com.cn

  

The tournament is owned by IMG and is organized by the Chinese Tennis Association and Chengdu Municipal Government, is co-organized by Chengdu Sports Bureau, Shuangliu District Government and Chengdu Culture Tourism Group and is promoted by Sichuan Investment International Tennis Centre Development Co., Ltd., CCTV IMG (Beijing) Sports Management Co. Ltd. and IMG Sports Development (Shanghai) Limited.

 

The Chengdu Open is also very proud to have the distinguished support from ATP World Tour’s Premier Partner Emirates, the official player hotel St. Regis, Chengdu which fast became a favourite of the players, Srixon tennis balls, the Sichuan Tennis International Hotel which is conveniently located adjacent to the courts and providing efficient services to the tournament, the official sponsor Chengdu Better City, the official car Unicorn,  the official apparel Erke, the official gym equipment Life Fitness, the official Chinese tea Sichuan Mengding Tea Co. Ltd., the official stringer Yonex and the official water Ice Age.  The Official media partners are Iqiyi Sports, West China Metropolis, Chengdu Radio and TV Station, Chengdu Daily, CTA APP, Shenzhen Hundred-Meter Life Shares Co., Ltd., and Tennis World.

 

The official tournament website www.ChengduOpenTennis.com has additional information about the tournament.

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Ms. Robecta Yeung, ph: +852-28940204 or +86-13760373443 or by email Robecta.Yeung@img.com.

 


 

About the 2017 Chengdu Open
Please visit: www.ChengduOpenTennis.com

 

About Chinese Tennis Association
Please visit: www.tennis.org.cn

 

About Chengdu City
Please visit: www.chengdu.gov.cn

 

About Chengdu Sports Bureau
Please visit: www.cdsport.gov.cn

 

About Shuangliu District
Please visit: www.shuangliu.gov.cn

 

About Chengdu Culture Tourism Group
Please visit: www.cdctg.com

 

About Sichuan Investment International Tennis Centre Development Co., Ltd.
Please visit: www.sciitc.com

 

About CCTV-IMG Sports Management Company
Please visit: www.cctv-img.com

 

About IMG
Please visit: www.img.com

 

About the ATP World Tour
Please visit: www.atpworldtour.com

 

 

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