Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev win Beijing debuts; Tsitsipas ousted by Jarry

Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev headlined a strong opening round by seeded competitors at the China Open Friday in Beijing.

Alcaraz, making his tournament debut, defeated qualifier Yannick Hanfmann, 6-4, 6-3.

“Yannick’s playing great, he’s a really dangerous player,” Alcaraz told the World Feed afterwards. “He was playing big bombs in this match, so I had to be really focused. Trying to not let him dominate the match.”

The top seed won 66 percent of his second-serve return points to notch his first tour-level win in China after one hour and 37 minutes. Alcaraz is seeking his seventh trophy of the season and has advanced to the semifinals or better at 11 of the 13 events he’s contested in 2023.

“To finally be able to come here to China and show my tennis in front of the Chinese people is something that I wanted a long time ago and I'm really happy to do it, hopefully the first of many here,” the 20-year-old shared.

Medvedev, who knocked out Alcaraz to reach his third US Open final earlier this month, roared past Tommy Paul on his maiden appearance at the ATP 500 event. The No. 2 seed broke the world No. 13 five times en route to securing a 6-2, 6-1 victory.

“I’m happy with my level. I played great. The start of the match was not easy,” Medvedev said. “Both a little bit jet-lagged, him probably more coming from Vancouver. Maybe that made the difference.”

Medvedev improved to 56-12 on the year, as he bids to lift a sixth trophy. Two have come on the 500 stage—at Rotterdam and Dubai.

Third seed Holger Rune also advanced, but No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was sent packing.

Rune did not face a break point during his 6-4, 6-4 win over Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian dropped to 15-16 and is due to defend two thirds of his current point total (1,560 of 2,340) following a torrid late-season stretch in 2022.

Nicolas Jarry ousted Tsitsipas, 6-4, 6-4, blasting 29 winners along the way. For Jarry, it marked his third Top 10 win this season, having also taken down the Greek in Halle. The two have split four encounters overall this year.

Fifth seed Andrey Rublev, sixth seed Jannik Sinner, seventh seed Casper Ruud and eighth seed Alexander Zverev were among the additional winners. All but Ruud prevailed in deciding sets.