They will do it in China: in what status will Russian tennis players play in China

The Asian series of tennis tournaments is gradually approaching its denouement. Before the Masters in Shanghai, men play two "pentathletes" in Tokyo (Alcaraz, Fritz, Ruud, Rune) and Beijing (Sinner, Zverev, Khachanov, Rublev, Medvedev, Bublik), and the women have started a bunch of Beijing –Wuhan super tournaments. These two "thousandths" will finally determine the composition of the Final tournament in Riyadh (November 1-8). And not only in singles, but also in doubles. So far, Veronika Kudermetova, Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider have qualified for Saudi Arabia from Russia.

Good forecast

10 Russians started in the main draw of the women's tournament in Beijing at once. Our top athletes — Mirra Andreeva, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Diana Schneider, Lyudmila Samsonova, Veronika Kudermetova and Anna Kalinskaya — will compete from the second round. The tournament is important for everyone, especially for Andreeva and Alexandrova, who are currently fighting to reach the final in singles.

Let's remind that Alexandrova reached the finals of the Seoul tournament last week, where she lost to world number two Iga Sventek in a dramatic three-set fight. During the Korea Open, Ekaterina was stronger than Lois Boisson, Elle Seidel and Katerina Sinyakova, earning 265 points and moving closer to ninth place in the championship race. She is separated from Jasmine Paoli by 400 points, from Elena Rybakina, who is in the intermediate eighth place, by 600. With a successful game in the capital of China, this handicap can be significantly reduced. Rybakina and Paolini will play their first tournament after the US Open, so you can expect an upset in their opening matches. The representative of Kazakhstan will start the tournament with a match with Katie McNally (Coco Gauff is the favorite of this quarter), who was stronger in the first round than Laura Siegemund, who played at the end of the season, and the Italian will face Anastasia Sevastova (Amanda Anisimova, a finalist of Wimbledon and the US Open, will play Paolini in the quarter).

Alexandrova should start with Barbara Krejcikova or Anna Blinkova. It's probably not going to be easy with both rivals (last year, Ekaterina lost in her first match at this tournament, it's important not to repeat it).

Mirra reached the quarterfinals in Beijing last year, the furthest of our group. Then she also played with a big break after the US Open, looked fresh and could easily beat Zheng Qingwen (everything was decided in the third set). This time, the tennis players were in the same quarter again and, if successful, they will play for a ticket to the semifinals. At least repeating the result of 2024 practically guarantees Andreeva to get to the final. According to the experience of previous years, it takes about 4,500 points to go to the last super tournament of the year. The Russian woman now has 4199. Mirra's first opponent will be Moyuka Uchijima or Zhu Lin.

"Andreeva is one of the best young talents I've seen in a long time," said Serena Williams' former coach Rick Macchi at Tennis365. — The fact is that mentally she is very different from her peers — more mature, a ruthless fighter. Its distinctive feature is that it changes the direction of the ball very early in the draw. She takes her rivals out of her comfort zone, and with great confidence. I see that she has critics, but these people need to understand something: she is only 18 and she is already the fifth in the world. I see greatness, and it's about her acting. When she gets to the top of the ranking, she will not be able to move anywhere, she has a strong sporting spirit. She actually moves very well, although her movements were a little shaky on the ground, and it took her a while to get used to the grass. It doesn't bother me. Let's be honest, most tournaments are played on hard. But Mirra is a real star. I think she's going to be a double-digit Grand Slam winner.

Another final Kudermetova

It should be noted that Mirra, paired with Diana Schneider, were able to qualify for the final in doubles, scoring 4651 points this season. Only four pairs are higher, including Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens (4848), who have already won this tournament in 2022. After that success, the Russian-Belgian duo broke up.

Veronica played in an alliance with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Lyudmila Samsonova, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhan Haoqing. With the latter last year, they qualified for the final in Saudi Arabia, losing in the semifinals to Townsend and Sinyakova. This year, Kudermetova performed in pairs with Anastasia Potapova, Ena Sibahara and the same Zhan Haoqing. It didn't work out with the representative of Taiwan this time. The pair were eliminated in the first or second round, so in Madrid Kudermetova paired up with Mertens again for the first time since November 2022, and it worked. The girls won Wimbledon, reached two finals of the "thousandths" and the semifinals of the US Open.

Now Veronica and Eliza may well compete for the second victory in the final. In addition to MiDi, their rivals will be Sinyakova / Townsend, Sara Errani / Jasmine Paolini and Gabriela Dabrowski / Erin Rutliff. The remaining three tickets will probably go to Xie Shuwei / Elena Ostapenko, Demi Schurs / Aizhe Muhammad and Timea Babos / Louise Stefani. Alexandra Panova from Russia and Guo Hanyu from China have a chance to oust the Hungarian-Brazilian duo from the eighth place. The situation is slightly worse for Laura Zimegund and Beatrice Haddad Maya, who occupy the eighth place.

Medvedev's revenge

The men's ranking leaders decided to choose different tournaments. The first racket of the world Carlos Alcaraz went to Tokyo, where he got a very tight grid. In the first round, Carlitos will face Sebastian Baez, with whom they played at the youth final in 2022, and in the second, most likely, with Alejandro Tabilo. This week, the Chilean took the title in Chengdu, leaving the ninth racket of the world, Lorenzo Musetti, without a trophy. Tabilo won the third title of his career and the first of the season. He became the second qualifier and the second lowest-ranked player to win the trophy in 2025, after Jenson Brooksby (he won the title in Houston while outside the top 500).

In addition to Alcaraz and Tabilo in Japan, it will be interesting to see a potential duel between Kasper Ruud and Matteo Berrettini (if the Norwegian does not lose to Shintaro Mochizuki, who received a wild card), as well as a battle between Holger Rune and Hamad Medjedovic in the first round.

The Russian Three chose Tokyo over Beijing, where Yannick Sinner and Alexander Zverev will be the favorites. The world number two will start the tournament with Marin Chilic, and the German will play with Lorenzo Sonego, with whom he leads in a personal confrontation with a score of 5.:0. The best Russian player right now, Karen Khachanov, is seeded at number five. In the first round, he will face dangerous Frenchman Alexander Muller, Andrey Rublev (the sixth seed) will face Flavio Cobolli, and Daniil Medvedev will try to take revenge on Cameron Norrie. This year, the Briton knocked out the former world number one in the first round of Roland Garros.