Carlos Alcaraz is confronted with Sebastian Baez during his debut on the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships, after the draw on Monday.
The Spaniard competes for the first time at the ATP 500 Hard-Court event and is sown to meet eighth seed Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinals and Casper Ruud van Norway in the semi-final.
Alcaraz, who will take a 2-0 Lexus ATP Head2head series that led to his meeting with Baez, returned to number 1 in the PIF ATP ranking list earlier this month when he defeated Jannik Sinner in the US Open final to conquer his sixth major.
Ruud, a titlist in Madrid this year, is confronted with the Japanese wildcard Shintaro Mochizuki in the first round, while Tiafoe plays a qualification. The American Tiafoe reached the final in Tokyo in 2022. Also in the upper half, seventh seed Denis Shapovalov, a double semi-finalist in Tokyo, opens against the German Daniel Altmaier.
Second Seed Taylor Fritz won the trophy in Japan in 2022. The American plays the Canadian Gabriel Diallo in the first round and was able to meet fifth seed Tomas Machac in the quarterfinals. The Czech Machac starts against a qualification.
Third Seed Holger Rune, a potential semi-final opponent for Fritz, meets former next genes of the following genes of Pif champion Hamad Medjedovic in the first round. Rune could play Alex Michelsen in the second round and the sixth seed Ugo Humbert in the quarterfinals. Last year’s finalist starts Humbert against Jenson Brooksby.
The ATP 500 event will be held from 24 to 30 September.
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