China Open tips: Daniil Medvedev has the cojones to take care of business in Beijing

The Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center - built especially for the 2008 Olympic Games – will be the venue for one of the hottest ATP 500 events in recent memory.

Eight of the world’s top 10 will be in action (Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz are the only two big dogs missing) and the draw has not been kind to the travelling British contingent.

Dan Evans against Jannik Sinner is a match up I’ve wanting to see for a while, but Evans would surely have hoped for an easier match first up than against this year’s ATP Masters 1000 Canada champion?

Andrey Rublev v Cameron Norrie is another spicy fixture from R1, with Norrie winning their last encounter at Indian Wells earlier this season. It is a seriously tough draw for the British players, with Andy Murray also up against it as he goes against Aussie Alex de Minaur in R1.

Murray is ranked at 40 in the world right now, but Beijing was one of nine titles he won during a golden year of action in 2016.

Playing Murray back then was like trying to escape a beehive, and it will be interesting to see how the veteran Brit gets on against a player as solid and consistent as Australia’s de Minaur.

There are some other brutally brilliant first round games, with Holge Rune v Felix Auger Aliassime another beauty.

Indeed this is easily the most stacked 500 event of this season (you can say honestly that some of those first round encounters could be legit semi-finals).

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz is top seed and a piping hot favourite 11/8 jolly in the betting with Planet Sport Bet, but I just cannot forget how he got cooked by Daniil Medvedev in that US Open semi-final the other week.

Alcaraz has not been seen since that four-set defeat at Flushing Meadows, and gauging his motivation here will not be easy until we see him on court.

After winning the US Open last season for example, the Spaniard didn’t do much else between New York and Christmas and he may already have one eye on 2024 and how he’s going to raise his game yet further to get an edge in his terrific rivalry with Djokovic.

 

 

In the bottom half, Medvedev is the man the layers expect to make the final and I’m inclined to agree after his blockbuster showing at the US Open.

He may have been blown away by the GOAT in the final, but he was brilliant before that and he looks like the man to get with in China at 7/2.

His style is hard to appreciate, nothing he does is textbook and he still looks really awkward out there at times. However, appearances can be deceptive.

He does most things brilliantly, is extremely tough mentally, and should enjoy this type of surface.

‘The Octopus’ has not done a great deal in his career on this side of the world, but did win Tokyo indoors back in 2018.

He faces Tommy Paul first up in a match he should win (the bookies have him chalked up at 2/7 to do just that) and Medvedev has the talent and the cojones to take care of business from the bottom half of the draw.

Tip: Daniil Medvedev to win the China Open at 7/2 (Planet Sport Bet)