Beijing and Tokyo

WTA&ATP Beijing, ATP Tokyo

This is not about any of the Koreas! I swear!

Last Premier Mandatory of the season for the women and two ATP 500 for the men.

China Open, Beijing

SOHO Building

This is a mixed event. Last Premier Mandatory of the season for the women, so last chance for a big chunk (1000) of points before the YEC. For the gents is just an ATP 500. All action will take place here:

The Olympic Green Tennis Center

The Ladies

Who's still good for play? Well... so far Serena, Konta, Vondrousova, Kontaveit, Sakkari, Rybakina, CSN and Azarenka are the no-shows. I think this is the only WTA tournament that gives performance byes: all four players in the Wuhan SFs (Barty, Kvitova, Sabalenka, Riske) go directly into 2nd round. What about the 4 Tashkent SFists, you ask? Who cares, WTA answers!

Draw was made today and it's awesome! Let's see it (chalk r16).

1st quarter:

Barty[1] v Stephens[13]

Bencic[9] v Kvitova[7]

Also here Hsieh, Venus v Strycova, Collins v Mladenovic. Not too shabby!

2nd quarter:

Svitolina[3] v Kenin[15]

Kerber[10] v Bertens[8]

Sevastova and Muguruza play the 1st two seeds in this section! Zhang and Vekic the other two. And you get also Garcia v Yastremska as a r1 in this section. Brutal stuff!

3rd quarter:

Andreescu[5] v Keys[11]

Wang(Q.)[14] v Osaka[4]

 Sasnovich and Muchova play the 1st two seeds. Also here Mertens v Martic, Anisimova, Riske.

4th quarter:

Halep[6] v Sabalenka[12]

Wozniacki[16] v Pliskova[2]

Kasatkina v Peng, Kuznetsova, Ostapenko are all in here too. 

DRAW

DOUBLES DRAW

OOP

Naomi Osaka and a large bowl

The Gents

Well, having just two ATP 500 this week, the men have more absentees. The top lazies are Nadal, Federer, Medvedev, Nishikori, Anderson, Wawrinka, Raonic, Kyrgios. Let's see the draw. 32 players, no byes. The 8 seeds are Thiem, Zverev, The Tsi, The Khach, RBA, Fognini, Monfils, Berrettini. Some other notable participants: Gasquet, Edmund, Sir Scot Guy, Dimitrov, Rublev, Isner, Basilashvili, Querrey, Scwartzman, Verdasco, The Tiaf, FAA, ARV. Lots!

DRAW
DOUBLES DRAW
OOP

Dominic Thiem and a witch's cauldron

Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, Tokyo

Tokyo in the fall

Another ATP 500. The venue looks like this:

Ariake Coliseum

32 players draw, no byes. The eight seeds are Djokovic, Coric, Goffin, Paire, Pouille, Cilic, Fritz, De Minaur. Other names: PCB, Albot, Struff, The Shap, Opelka, Simon, Mannarino. Last direct entry is #59 Nishioka. The probable QFs go like this: Djokovic v Pouille, Goffin v Cilic, Fritz v Paire and De Minaur v Coric.

DRAW
DOUBLES DRAW
OOP

Novak Djokovic not worried about all the litter around. (courtesy of ATP) (cool trophy, bro!)