It is not a tournament that usually gains a big following, but this week’s ATP Zhuhai Tennis event does. That is because Andy Murray is kicking off a busy period of singles action. He is taking a three-week tour of Asia before heading back closer to home at the European Open. This is all part of his quest to get back to the top ten in the world following his hip surgery.
ATP Zhuhai Winner Odds
| Player |  |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stefanos Tsitsipas | 9/2 | 7/2 | 4/1 |
| Roberto Bautista Agut | 5/1 | 4/1 | 5/1 |
| Gael Monfils | 5/1 | 4/1 | 9/2 |
| Nick Kyrgios | 6/1 | 7/1 | 13/2 |
| Borna Coric | 5/1 | 11/2 | 8/1 |
| Lucas Pouille | 10/1 | 12/1 | 12/1 |
| Andy Murray | 14/1 | 12/1 | 14/1 |
| Alex De Mianur | 22/1 | 16/1 | 14/1 |
(Betting Odds were taken from Betfair, Bet365 and Unibet on September 22, 2019 at 15:54)
Table of Contents
Can Murray win on ATP return?
Andy Murray, after dabbling in doubles on his return to the game, experimented with a dip into a low-tiered Challenger event in Mallorca recently. That was a step towards bigger targets back on the ATP Tour. Murray lost in the third round in Mallorca against Matteo Viola. It was the first time that Murray had played on the Challenger Tour since 2005. These are just baby steps in Murray’s recovery.
He will be starting things up in China this week as an outsider. Bigger events are coming at the China Open and Shanghai Masters, which are coming up. But Murray will assess things tournament by tournament. Murray is in the bottom half of the Zhuhai draw where he opens against America’s Tennys Sandgren. The two met recently at Winston-Salem for the first time, Sandgren winning in straight sets.
Will favourite Tstiptas win in Zhughai?
Tournament favourite is Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas who was in action at the Laver Cup over the weekend in the Europe v Rest of the World team event. Tsitsipas, who has won two titles this year has been struggling for form since his semi-final defeat to Nick Kyrgios in Washington in early August.
The Greek player has lost all three Tour singles matches played since then. But he is the 7/2 outright favourite* (betting odds taken from bet365 on September 21st, 2019 at 10:14 pm). He gets the top half of the draw and the top seed he could meet in his quarter is fifth seed Lucas Pouille. Overall though, it looks like a very good draw for Tsitsipas.
Fourth Quarter To Produce the Winner?
There are a couple of players in the fourth quarter of the draw who look as if they could do some damage at the event. Nick Kyrgios is one of them. He is the sixth seed and like Tsitsipas has been playing at the Laver Cup. Kyrgios won in Washington in early August, the tournament in which he beat Tsitsipas in the semi-finals. He’s more than capable of stringing a few matches together in this small tournament in a favour a draw. He did pull out of the final day of Laver Cup action though with a niggle.
A quarterfinal match-up for Kyrgios against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut isn’t an unlikely thing. The rest of that section is pretty weak. So if you project forward either Kyrgios or Bautista Agut to a semi-final place, then considering the 4th Quarter Winner to go all the way to the title as a betting option, looks a decent call. Bautista Agut recently ran through to the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open in back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 events.
Predictions
Murray is worth a pass because getting back to the level of winning singles tournaments is probably some way off for him. Outright favourite Tsitsipas has been struggling for a month or so now to get his game flowing so is worth a pass. There is better value in leaning towards Kyrgios or Bautista Agut, the latter probably being the more reliably consistent.
