CHENGDU, August 15, 2019 (Press Release)
The Asian Swing of tournaments on the ATP Tour is always an exciting time of the season. A different part of the world highlighting ancient cultures with different sounds and different cuisines, while the local fans remain just as enthusiastic as tennis fans in the sport’s more established markets.
Celebrating its fourth anniversary this year, the US$1,213,295 Chengdu Open is thrilled to be welcoming players from five continents and 13 different nations to the Sichuan International Tennis Centre from 21 to 29 September 2019. As always, the tournament will be going all out to make every guest feel as welcome and comfortable as possible.
The Chengdu Open will once again be the richest event during its designated week, while also this year boasting the strongest cut-off at No.56, not only in its own young history, but also on the tour during that week.
“This year’s Chengdu Open is shaping up to be another tremendous event,” Tournament Director Luiz Carvalho said. “We were excited to recently announce some of our marquee players – John Isner, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Grigor Dimitrov.
“Now our entire direct entry list shows that we have a fantastic line up of players. We have players who are enjoying their best seasons, like Taylor Fritz, Jordan Thompson and Dusan Lajovic, as well as so many exciting young talents such as Denis Shapovalov, Cristian Garin and Juan Ignacio Londero. There is a great mix of established players and developing talent and tennis fans in Chengdu are sure to enjoy the action that will be on show.”
The main draw will have 19 direct acceptances, three wild cards, four qualifiers and two special exempts, should they be required. If unrequired, the next two players after the cut-off will be promoted to the main draw.
Isner, a Wimbledon semifinalist, has won 15 career titles and is currently ranked No.16, but has been at a career high of eight. This year he won at Newport, was a finalist at Miami and a semifinalist three other times.
Radu Albot from Moldova, ranked No.39 on the Tour, is one of six players who are at career high rankings. The others being Auger-Aliassime at No. 21 (who at 19 years of age is also the youngest player in the direct entry list), Fritz at No. 25, Garin at No. 32, Reilly Opelka at No. 42 and Londero at No.55.
Albot won Delray Beach and made the semis at Los Cabos, Geneva and Montpelier, while Auger-Aliassime reached finals at Stuttgart, Lyon and Rio de Janeiro along with semis in Miami and The Queen’s Cub, where he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios.
Fritz won at the Newport Beach Challenger and Eastbourne, while making the finals at Los Cabos and Atlanta. Garin has won two titles, at Houston and also at Munich, where he upset Alexander Zverev, and reached the Sao Paulo final, while Opelka won the New York Open and made the semis in Atlanta and the Dallas Challenger. Londero won the Cordoba Open in his native Argentina, reached the final in Bastad and the quarters at the Punta del Este Challenger.
Thompson broke into the top 50 for the first time – he is currently at No. 49 but recently reached a career high of No. 43. The Sydneysider was a finalist at s-Hertogenbosch and the Nanchang Challenger, a semifinalist at Antalya and a quarterfinalist in Sydney, Houston and New York. He also notably defeated Karen Khachanov and Dimitrov en route to the last 16 in Miami.
Lajovic is No. 28 in the rankings, just short of his career high of No. 23. The Serb won Umag and reached the final of the ATP Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo, upsetting Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem and David Goffin along the way.
British player Kyle Edmund, a semifinalist at last year’s Australian Open, is ranked No. 30 but has been as high as No. 14. This year he won the Indian Wells Challenger, made the semis in Eastbourne and the quarters in Washington. His compatriot Dan Evans has enjoyed a huge rally this year to reach a high of No. 41 in the rankings, winning two Challengers and reaching the final of another, while also making the final of the Tour level event at Delray Beach.
Shapovalov, ranked No. 34, made the semis in Miami, beating Tsitsipas and Frances Tiafoe en route, and also made the quarters in Lyon, Rotterdam and Montpelier.
Along with youngsters reaching their prime, The Chengdu Open will also welcome players with a wealth of experience, such as former world No.7 Richard Gasquet, the last player directly into the main draw, has won 15 career titles and Sam Querrey, is a winner of ten titles. Seven time titlist Fernando Verdasco will also be heading to Chengdu, along with Pablo Carreno Busta, Benoit Paire and Joao Sousa, who have each won three career titles, and Mikhail Kukushkin, who has one career title.
There will be free admission to qualifying round matches, Court 1 and 2 matches. Tickets for the Chengdu Open Main Draw Center Court matches through to the finals are available through www.damai.cn or via the national hotline at 10103721. The tournament continues to offer promotions to the fans, with a 50% discount applied on all ticket sales (except VIP suite) between 9 and 29 August 2019.
The tournament is owned by IMG and is organized by the Chinese Tennis Association and Chengdu Municipal Government, is co-organized by Chengdu Sports Bureau, Shuangliu District Government and Chengdu Culture Tourism Group and is promoted by Sichuan Investment International Tennis Centre Development Co., Ltd., CCTV IMG (Beijing) Sports Management Co. Ltd. and WME IMG China Culture Development Co. Ltd.
The Chengdu Open is also very proud to have the distinguished support from ATP World Tour’s Premier Partner Emirates, the official player hotel St. Regis Chengdu, which fast became a favourite of the players, Dunlop tennis balls, the official water VOSS, the Sichuan Tennis International Hotel, which is conveniently located adjacent to the courts and provides efficient services to the tournament, the exclusive official digital media partner Iqiyi Sports, the official stringer Yonex and the official tea Sichuan Mengding Tea Co. Ltd.
The official tournament website www.ChengduOpenTennis.com has additional information about the tournament.
