Week in preview: Andreescu back in Beijing; Djokovic to debut in Tokyo

The Asian swing has escalated quickly. Even as the women were wrapping things up at the Premier event in Wuhan on Saturday, play was already underway at the Premier Mandatory in Beijing. The stakes also get a little higher on the men’s side, as the first of the Big 3, Novak Djokovic, arrives in Asia.

Beijing

$8,285,274; Premier Mandatory

Hard court

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The China Open is one of the WTA’s four mandatory events, but with an $8.3 million purse for 58 players, and $1.5 million to the winner, it would surely attract a crowd anyway. Most of the Top 20 is present and accounted for. Ash Barty, Naomi Osaka, Elina Svitolina, Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Kiki Bertens, Angie Kerber, Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens are all here. So is Bianca Andreescu, who will make her first appearance since the US Open. One top player who has already come and gone is Karolina Pliskova. Despite 24 double faults, Jelena Ostapenko somehow knocked off the No. 2 seed on Saturday. That obviously won’t help Pliskova, who reached the round of 16 here last year, close the gap with Barty for the year-end No. 1 ranking.

How about the resurgent Aryna Sabalenka? The Wuhan champ was awarded a first-round bye, and will open against Daria Kasatkina.

First-round matches to watch:

Keys vs. Karolina Muchova

Venus Williams vs. Barbora Strycova

Andreescu vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich

Dayana Yastremska vs. Caroline Garcia

Svitolina vs. Anastasija Sevastova

Tokyo

$2046,340; 500 ranking points

Hard court

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Typically Djokovic starts his fall campaign in Beijing, but with the 2020 Olympics coming up next summer in Tokyo, he’s chosen to get in a few matches, and possibly sneak in a title, at the Japan Open. Djokovic had to retire from the US Open last month with a left-shoulder injury, but if he has recovered from that, he’s the clear favorite here. Djokovic loves the Asian swing like few others, and he’ll have the rare chance to play in a field that doesn’t feature any other Top 10 players. Borna Coric is the second seed, and David Goffin third. Djokovic will start against either Jan-Lennard Struff or Go Soeda.

Unfortunate all-American first-rounder: Taylor Fritz vs. Reilly Opelka—i.e., the best man at his wedding

Beijing

$3,666,275; 500 ranking points

Hard court

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With Djokovic in Japan, and Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal not due in Asia until next week at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, the Next Gen has the run of Beijing. Dominic Thiem (who played Fabio Fognini in a Wuhan exhibition), Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Karen Khachanov are the top four seeds, new kid on the block Matteo Berrettini is No. 8, and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, Kyle Edmund, and Frances Tiafoe are also here. But there is one elder statesman, and Grand Slam winner, on the premises: Andy Murray will continue his comeback against Berrettini in the first round.

First-round matches to watch:

Zverev vs. Tiafoe

Gael Monfils vs. John Isner

Rublev vs. Grigor Dimitrov

Thiem vs. Richard Gasquet

Murray vs. Berrettini