Valentin Royer lost last year’s Hangzhou final to Alexander Bublik 7-6(4), 7-6(4). Bublik is not in this year’s draw, and Royer’s path runs straight into the top seed. If he beats Adam Walton in the first round, his next opponent is Daniil Medvedev, who has a bye.
The draws for the AITO Hangzhou Open and the Chengdu Open were made on Monday. Both are ATP 250 events on hard courts, both run from Wednesday 23 to Tuesday 29 September, and in both the top four seeds go straight into the second round of a 28-player draw. Qualifying is on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hangzhou. Medvedev is seeded first at No. 6 in the ATP rankings, ahead of Andrey Rublev (25), Tomas Martin Etcheverry (30) and Quentin Halys (49). Rublev opens against Rinky Hijikata or a qualifier, Etcheverry against Aleksandar Vukic or Kyrian Jacquet, and Halys against Roman Safiullin or a qualifier. Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, Fabian Marozsan, Jaime Faria and Kamil Majchrzak are seeded fifth to eighth.
Three Chinese players are in Medvedev’s half of the draw. Zhang Zhizhen, a wild card and the runner-up here in 2024, plays Coleman Wong of Hong Kong in the first round, with the winner in Medvedev’s quarter. Cui Jie, also a wild card, opens against Vallejo. Bu Yunchaokete, the last direct acceptance at No. 124, plays the American wild card Michael Zheng. The singles final is on Tuesday 29 September, not before 7:30 p.m. local time.
Chengdu. Valentin Vacherot is the top seed at No. 19, a year after he came through qualifying to win the Shanghai Masters, beating his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final. He opens against Aleksandar Kovacevic or a qualifier. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is seeded second and meets Juan Manuel Cerundolo or the Chinese wild card Zhou Yi. Botic van de Zandschulp, the fourth seed, plays Miomir Kecmanovic or a qualifier.
The third seed is the defending champion, Alejandro Tabilo, who saved two championship points against Lorenzo Musetti in last year’s final and won 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5). Tabilo was playing doubles for Chile against Spain in Santiago on Sunday, and his first match in Chengdu is against the winner of Shang Juncheng and Adrian Mannarino. Shang, a wild card, won the title in 2024.
Elsewhere, fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz plays Aleksandr Shevchenko, the last direct acceptance at No. 97, seventh seed Denis Shapovalov plays Tallon Griekspoor, and eighth seed Sebastian Baez plays Jenson Brooksby. Lorenzo Sonego meets James Duckworth, and sixth seed Nuno Borges meets Camilo Ugo Carabelli.
What is at stake. Each champion takes 250 ranking points. The winner’s cheque is $184,085 in Chengdu and $158,065 in Hangzhou. The ATP 500 events that follow are in Tokyo and Beijing, and the full sequence is in the Asian swing explained. For where the seeds stand in the chase for the last places in Turin, see the Race to Turin.
