Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic are on an early collision course at the China Open with third seed Daniil Medvedev and eighth seed Jakub Mensik also featuring in their half of the draw.
With world No 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner withdrawing from the tournament due to a knee injury, Zverev headlined the draw and he kicks off his campaign against Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
Reigning US Open champion Zverev has dominated his head-to-head rivalry against the world No 39 as he is 8-0 against the left-hander, including two wins already in 2026.
The winner of the Zverev-Norrie clash will take on either Shang Juncheng or Sebastian Baez before a possible mouthwatering quarter-final clash against Djokovic.
ATP News
24-time Grand Slam winner and six-time China Open champion Djokovic is playing at the event for the first time since 2015 and he will start against world No 49 Nuno Borges while he could take on Juan Manuel Cerundolo or Bu Yunchaokete in the second round.
Djokovic, of course, is looking for his first top-level win since beating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-final at Wimbledon, as he lost in the semi-final against Sinner before suffering defeats to Tiago Agustin Tirante in Cincinnati and Mariano Navone at the US Open.
If the seedings hold, then we will have a 15th meeting between Zverev and Djokovic with the latter leading their H2H 9-5.
But the draw doesn’t get easier as the winner is projected to face either Medvedev or Mensik in the semi-final.
World No 6 Medvedev faces a qualifier in his first match while Mensik has a tougher opener as he is up against the mercurial Alexander Bublik.
Bottom Half
World No 5 Auger-Aliassime is the second seed and he has a brutal opener as he takes on world No 26 Karen Khachanov while he is projected to meet seventh seed and 2025 runner-up Learner Tien in the quarter-final.
Khachanov has won his two most recent encounters against Auger-Aliassime to take a 3-2 lead in their head-to-head rivalry.
Tien himself has a difficult start as he faces the big-serving Hubert Hurkacz.
Fourth seed Flavio Cobolli and fifth seed Alex de Minaur are the other headlines in the bottom half and the former starts against Roman Safiullin before a possible second-round match-up against Andrey Rublev.
De Minaur faces Navone in the first round while he could meet either Ignacio Buse or Quentin Halys in the round of 16.
Projected Quarter-Finals
Alexander Zverev (1) v Novak Djokovic (6)
Daniil Medvedev (3) v Jakub Mensik (8)
Alex de Minaur (5) v Flavio Cobolli (4)
Learnier Tien (7) v Felix Auger-Aliassime (2)
