Quarterfinal spots will start being handed out in Beijing on Saturday, when Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev headline the order of play. Sinner awaits Roman Safiullin in round two, while Medvedev meets Adrian Mannarino.
(1) Jannik Sinner vs. (LL) Roman Safiullin
The China Open touched off Sinner’s amazing season-ending run in 2023–one that has never stopped, in fact. He lifted the Beijing trophy and won 20 of his last 22 matches in 2023, complete with three victories over Novak Djokovic and a Davis Cup triumph for Italy. Sinner is now 56-5 this year with two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and U.S. Open. The world No. 1’s Beijing title defense got off to a bit of a rocky start on Thursday, but he managed to get past Nicolas Jarry 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Up next for Sinner on Saturday is a third meeting with Safiullin, who lost 7-6(6), 6-3 at the 2022 ATP Cup and 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinals. This one probably won’t be as competitive as either of those first two encounters. Not only did Sinner get a wakeup call from Jarry, but Safiullin also isn’t in great form. The 69th-raked Russian is a dreadful 14-21 at the ATP level in 2024 and needed a lucky-loser spot in the Beijing main draw after falling to Roberto Bautista Agut in qualifying. Safiullin beat a struggling Stan Wawrinka on Friday, but Sinner is obviously a whole different beast.
Pick: Sinner in 2
Adrian Mannarino vs. (3) Daniil Medvedev
RPMs on the tennis ball will be at a bare minimum when Medvedev and Mannarino collide for the eighth time in their careers on Saturday. Surprisingly, Mannarino leads the head-to-head series 4-3. However, three of the Frenchman’s four victories have come on grass, Medvedev has won three of their last four overall, and the Russian dominated their most recent hard-court contest 6-2, 6-1 at the 2019 Miami Masters.
Mannarino is finally winning matches again; he advanced one round at the U.S. Open, reached the Chengdu quarterfinals last week, and beat Lorenzo Sonego on Thursday. Still, an absolutely ridiculous 1-17 stretch earlier in the season is hard to ignore. Medvedev, who trounced Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4 on Friday, is playing well and always seems to post good results during the fall swing. There are two guarantees in this matchup: 1) 20-ball and even 30-ball rallies will be in abundance; 2) Medvedev will win a vast majority of those rallies.
Pick: Medvedev in 2
WWW?
Sinner might still be banned as he should have been banned at the first place (though I doubt, Nike rules)
https://www.wada-ama.org/en/news/wada-appeals-case-tennis-player-jannik-sinner
Agree with you for once
Hello Alison 🤗 How are you? Is your hubby okay?
Is tennis even on your mind without Rafa? Did you celebrate the Autumnal equinox? I still wish I could join in that celebration wherever it is!
It was miserably hot, and the smoke from the forest fires way too close!
I wanted to post to you on the non-tennis forum, but I can’t do it—I can’t get on the WTA page either!
Maybe Ricky is away in China, or worse, flooded out—the last hurricane drenched the southeast coast and poured rain where it would not usually go.
I would say and ask more, but this post will disappear. 😞
No it didn’t Elizabeth I saw it hope you see mine too
Hi Elizabeth it’s lovely to read you, hubby is doing okay as can be expected after the stroke and now the heart attack thanks, yes the Autumn equinox was wonderful, the camp is my favourite time of the year, it was very hot here too, but no fires thankfully, I will try to download some pictures for you, I hope your keeping well too, really enjoy your posts and our overseas friendship, I’ll try to post more often though, I miss Rafa and his tennis, but life goes on, and Carlos is beginning to look like a mighty fine player, achieved much already, how much more, time will tell, there’s some amazingly good players on the WTA as well now very open, take care Elizabeth 🤗
Oh dear, I wrote too much in response, so my last post got deleted. I’ll find you!
Hi Alison. I don’t know you but I hope uour usband is doing better. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Scoot Dimon (Ricky’s Dad)
Stay safe Elizabeth too it’s a wicked world out there
Maybe Ricky could/would open the non-tennis page?
Ricky?
Thank you Scoot it’s very kind of you to say that, I appreciate your words very much 🙏