CHENGDU, September 22, 2026 (Media Release)

Eighth seed Sebastian Baez will be the first seed to take to the court when the Chengdu Open main draw gets under way on Wednesday, while Chinese wild card Jia Hu will make his Tour-level debut in the day’s other first-round singles match.

World No. 51 Baez opens against 2025 Houston champion Jenson Brooksby in what will be their third encounter this season. The Argentine will look to maintain his perfect record against the World No. 77 US-American, having won their previous meetings in straight sets in Auckland and at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome earlier this year.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Hu faces a stern opening test against Czech World No. 71 Vit Kopriva. The 29-year-old reached a career-high ranking of No. 55 in May after advancing to the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 event in Munich and the fourth round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid.

In Tuesday’s opening round of qualifying, second seed Alexandre Muller completed a hard-fought 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3 victory over fellow Frenchman Luka Pavlovic in the tournament’s first Centre Court match.

Local wild card Linang Xiao then produced a spirited performance in front of the home fans, pushing top-seeded qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki all the way before the Japanese player prevailed 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in a marathon encounter lasting two hours and 39 minutes.

In the closing Centre Court match, Georgian former world No.16 Nikoloz Basilashvili eased past 17-year-old local star Hanlei Lu 6-2, 6-0 in 59 minutes. 

Other players advancing to the final round of qualifying included South Africa’s Lloyd Harris, Italy’s Federico Cina, Canada’s Alexis Galarneau, Petr Bar Biryukov and Pavel Kotov of Russia.

Which four will make it to the Main Draw tomorrow? #ChengduOpen pic.twitter.com/5GlUVQBDnR

— Chengdu Open (@ChengduOpen) September 22, 2026