Four singles first round matches along with one doubles first round tie will be contested tomorrow on Stadium Court as the Chengdu Open 2017 main draw commences here at the Sichuan International Tennis Centre.
Next Gen contender Jared Donaldson will start the day off with his first encounter on Tour against 19-year-old Greek qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 20-year-old American has had a fantastic year so far, reaching the second round or better in four ATP Masters tournaments, including a quarterfinal run at Cincinnati last month that helped him reach his career high of No.51.
Next up, fifth seed and world No. 42 Yuichi Sugita will face Croat qualifier Mate Pavic, with the duo also meeting on Tour for the first time. The 29-year-old Sugita has picked up three Challenger titles this year and lifted his maiden ATP World Tour trophy on the grass courts of Antalya in June. He also made the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters just last month, defeating Karen Khachanov in the third round.
Doubles specialist Pavic made the Wimbledon doubles finals this year along with picking up the sixth and seventh doubles titles of his career at Hamburg and Marrakech.
Both Chinese wild cards, Di Wu and Yibing Wu, will also be launching their campaigns, with the former taking on qualifier American Taylor Fritz and the latter meeting Brazilian Thiago Monteiro in what will be the Chinese teenager’s first ever appearance in an ATP World Tour tournament.
The world No. 219 Di Wu, who upset Russian Konstantin Kravchuk to make the second round last year, has never met the higher ranked Fritz (currently ranked at No.93) on Tour but will rely on crowd support to notch his first Main Draw victory of the year.
Exciting 17-year-old Chinese sensation Yibing Wu, who also goes by the English name Jason, has recently come into some fantastic form - winning both the US Open Junior singles and doubles titles earlier this month before following that up with a powerful run in Shanghai to win his first Challenger title just last week.
Backed by home support, Yibing will fancy his chances against the 23-year-old Monteiro, who achieved a career high of No.74 in February this year after making back-to-back quarterfinal appearances at Buenos Aires and the ATP 500 Rio Open, but has failed to maintain his form since.
In tomorrow evening’s final match, twenty-one-year-old Khachanov, the singles defending champion, will once again team up with compatriot Andrey Rublev (a recent US Open singles quarterfinalist) to take on Treat Huey of the Philippines and Fabrice Martin of France.
The Russian duo, both ATP #NextGen stars, made the last 16 of the US Open doubles draw just a few weeks ago and will be an interesting tandem to watch. Khachanov was also a doubles quarter-finalist at Bastad.
While their opponents are partnering for the first time on Tour, Huey has picked up eight career doubles titles, including one at Los Cabos this year (w/Juan Sebastian Cabal), while Martin picked up his third career doubles title at Doha in January (w/Jeremy Chardy).
In qualifying final round matches played today, the top three seeds cruised past their opponents to book their spot in the main draw.
They include the two 19-year-olds Fritz and Tsitsipas, along with 31-year-old Spaniard Adrian Menendez Maceiras.
In the day’s final match on Stadium Court, 20-year-old local wild card Zihao Xia put up a valiant effort in front of strong home support, including saving two match points in the second set, but could not stop Pavic from sealing a 6-4, 7-6(8) victory in 82 minutes.
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
