The Draw of the Kinoshita Group in Tokyo was unveiled om Monday.
World number 1 player Carlos Alcaraz will make his debut against Sebastian Baez in his opening match before facing either Zizou Bergs or Alejandro Tabilo, who will play against Lorenzo Musettti in the final of the ATP 250 tournament in Chengdu. Alcaraz is seeded to meet Frances Tiafoe in the quarter final and Casper Ruud in the semifinal.
Alcaraz leads 2-0 in his head-to-head matches against Baez.
Alcaraz decided to play in Tokyo instead of Beijing, where he reached the semifinals in 2023 and won the title beating Jannik Snner In 2024.
The Spaniard was defeated by Taylor Fritz on the second day, but he fought back by beating Francisco Cerundolo and helped Casper Ruud win the doubles match. These wins were not enough to allow Team Europe to win the Laver Cup Trophy for the sixth time in eight editions.
Alcaraz has won seven ATP Tour titles this year in Rotterdam, Monte-Carlo, Rome, Roland Garros, Queen’s, Cincinnati and the US Open.
The main draw of the Japan Open will also feature this year’s Madrid Masters 1000 champion Casper Ruud and Frances Tiafoe, who reached the final in Tokyo in 2022.
Ruud will make his debut against Japanese Shintaro Mochiizuki in the first round. Tiafoe will play against a qualifier.
Denis Shapovalov, who reached the semifinals in Tokyo twice. The Canadian player will open his campaign against Germany’s Denis Shapovalov.
Second seed Taylor Fritz, who won in Tokyo in 2022, will start his campaign against Canada’s Gabriel Diallo in the first round. The US player is on a collision course for a potential quarter final match against Tomas Machac, who strarts against a qualifier.
Third seed Holger Rune will play against 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hamad Mejedovic in the first round, Alex Michelsen in the second round and last year’s finalist Ugo Humbert , who will start his campaign against Jenson Brooksby.
