ATP China Open Tennis Preview 2019
Andy Murray is back in action this week as he steps up his action in the singles draws of the ATP. He made small progress last week in Huajin in at least winning his opening match there. How deep will he be able to go in China? There is a very strong, highly competitive field lining up at the China Open.
ATP Beijing Outright Winner Odds
| Player |  |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karen Khachanov | 7/1 | 8/1 | 6/1 |
| Stefanos Tsitsipas | 15/2 | 8/1 | 7/1 |
| Dominic Thiem | 9/1 | 8/1 | 17/2 |
| Roberto Bautista Agut | 9/1 | 17/2 | 9/1 |
| Alex Zverev | 9/1 | 17/2 | 17/2 |
| Gael Monfils | 9/1 | 9/1 | 17/2 |
| Matteo Berrettini | 10/1 | 10/1 | 11/1 |
| Grigor Dimitrov | 14/1 | 16/1 | 14/1 |
(Betting Odds were taken from Bet365, Labdrokes and Paddy Power on September 29, 2019 at 4:54)
Table of Contents
Thiem leads the seeds in China
The top seed for this year’s Beijing event is Dominic Thiem who is making his third appearance at the tournament. He has yet to get his hands on the title at the tournament though. There hasn’t been great form from him really, not in one of the higher ranking tournaments at least, since his run to the final of the French Open where he lost against Nadal. Still, even with that, he’s one of the best players in the China Open field, having collected three titles this year.
He will be sharing the top quarter with Matteo Berrettini and Andy Murray who square up in the first round. That is the highlight of the first round draw and Murray is at 6/4 to win the match, making him an underdog* (betting odds taken from Bet365 on Septmeber 29th, 2019 at 4:55).
Last week Murray went into the singles at Huajin. He beat Tennys Sandgren in the opening round but fell to Alex de Minaur in the second round in a three-set battle. There was some good stuff in there by Murray, but couldn’t see off the Australian. He remains an outside chance to win the China title.
Khanchonov set as the outright favourite
The second quarter is a cracker as well because of outright favourite Karen Khacahnov and Fabio Fongini in there. Russia’s Khachanov has been backed well in his one, but really has had struggles to find his form. But he gets the easier draw in this section. That is because Grigor Dimitrov is lingering in opposition to sixth seed Fabio Fogninia. So those two could be battling it out to face Khachanov in the quarters.
Greek star Stefanos Tsitptsitas, another of the players who are badly seeking an upswing in form is the third seed and the headliner of the third quarter. This is a favourable draw for him as well as there should be no-one to stop him from booking a quarter-final berth. Gael Monfils and Daniel Evans are among the most likely quarter-final opponents for him. So there is a good draw for Tsitsipas if he can get it together.
Fourth-quarter to produce the winner?
Alexander Zverev has never lost a first-round match in Beijing from three previous entries. He gets a tricky start though because he will go up against American Frances Tiafoe. They met recently at the US Open where the match needed a deciding set before the German closed it out. He leads Tiafoe 4-1 in the head to head. Zverev is a former semi-finalist in Beijing. Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime is in this quarter along with Roberto Bautista Agut. It’s well worth considering the tournament winner coming from the fourth quarter.
ATP China Open Predictions
It’s a little tough to know which way to swing. The fourth quarter is easily the most competitive and the outright winner is likely to come from there. It is a really good draw overall and it looks wide open. Roberto Bautista Agut is a good price at 9/1* (betting odds taken from Bet365 on Septmeber 29th, 2019 at 4:55) because his form has been pretty steady over the second half of the season and was a semifinalist in Zhuhai recently. For the outright winner, we are going to swing to the top of the draw and look at Thiem. He is a touch of quality in the field and with not a bad draw ahead of him at all.
