Bolelli/Vavassori lead the Beijing field; Shelton, Draper in double act in Tokyo | ATP Tour

Game preview

Bolelli/Vavassori lead the Beijing field; Shelton, Draper in a double act in Tokyo

Two ATP 500 events start this week in Asia

September 24, 2024

Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori will hope to boost their hopes at this week’s Nitto ATP Finals at the China Open, where they will face Chinese cards Wang Aoran and Zhou Yi in the first round following Tuesday’s draw.

The Italians, currently in fourth place in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, have won two tour-level titles in 2024. In the same part of the draw as the fourth seed are Neal Skupski and Michael Venus, who are competing for the first time since. their US Open quarter-final match. The British-New Zealand team starts against Italian singles stars Flavio Cobolli and Lorenzo Musetti.

Watch the Beijing Doubles Draw

In the lower half of the draw, Wimbledon champions Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten face Spaniards Roberto Carballes Baena and Pablo Carreno Busta in their opening match. Ivan Dodig lifted the trophy at last year’s ATP 500 court event with Austin Krajicek. This year, the Croatian will team up with Rohan Bopanna and the second seed will face Francisco Cerundolo and Nicolas Jarry in the first round.

Krajicek meets Rajeev Ram, two against Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic in the main event of the first round. The former No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings team of Stan Wawrinka and China’s Buyunchaokete. They played Alexander Bublik and Pedro Martinez in the first round.

Lammons/Withrow lead the Tokyo field
Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow will look to bounce back at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships after a disappointing opening round exit in Hangzhou. The top-seeded Americans reached the semi-finals in Tokyo last year and started against home favorites Kei Nishikori and Rei Sakamoto.

The top 20 singles teams are Ben Shelton and Jordan Thompson, and the American-Australian pair meet Japanese wild cards Yoshihito Nishioka and Kaito Uesugi. US Open semi-finalist Jack Draper plays Tomas Machac. The British-Czech duo face Alexander Erler and Matwe Middelkoop in the first round.

Watch the Tokyo Doubles Draw

Fresh from their title win in Chengdu, third seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul are in the same group as Lammons and Withrow and could play Draper and Machac in the second round if they beat Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in their opening match.

Rinky Hijikata, who won the title with Max Purcell at the ATP 500 last year, joins Alexei Popyrin. The Australians took second seeds Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski in the first round.

#NextGenATP American Alex Michelsen will take the court with Alejandro Tabilo of Chile against Luciano Darderi and Tomas Martin Etcheverry. The winner of that match will play with Nys and Zielinski or Hijikata and Popyrin.