Scouting Report: Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz leads Tokyo; Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev Title Beijing | ATP Journey

Reconnaissance report

Scouting report: Alcaraz, Fritz leads Tokyo; sinner, Zverev headlines Beijing

The executive summary of what every fan should know about next week

September 23, 2025

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are one of the biggest stars of the week.

The Spaniards lead the open tennis tournament of Japan’s Kinoshita Group, with Taylor Fritz ranked second in Tokyo. The Sinners return to the China Open in Beijing, with five top ten players participating in the competition, including Alexander Zverev.

For the Nitto ATP Finals Hope, the two ATP 500 events of the Nitto ATP Finals trying to accumulate as many PIF ATP ranking points as possible are also a critical period and are qualifying for the desire to participate in the season finale in Turin.

atptour.com focuses on five things to watch for each event:

Five things to watch in Tokyo:
1) Alcaraz debuts: Tokyo is Asia’s longest ATP Tour Championship and will welcome the world’s number one Alcaraz for the first time. According to Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, Alcaraz has won seven titles this year. He will hope to strengthen his claim to be number one in the world in the PIF ATP rankings, a position he won after the U.S. public victory.

2) Former champion Fritz: The American has fond memories in Tokyo and in 2022 he won the top ten after his title in the Japanese capital. Now, Fritz bids for his third 2025 title (Eastbourne Stuttgart), which will work with his career-best champion of the year and bring his 2022 season title.

3) Outsiders in Turin: Less than two months before the Nitto ATP final, weekly is crucial for those outside of the top eight in the PIF ATP live game. For Casper Ruud, who is ranked 13th and Holger Rune, who is ranked 15th, their performance on the ATP 500 can help them pursue their qualifications for year-end events.

4) The remaining seeds are intended to increase the title count: Tomas Machac, Ugo Humbert, Denis Shapovalov and Frances Tiafoe ranked fifth in seeds respectively. Each player except Tiafoe has won at least one championship this season and is trying to add their trophy cabinet in Tokyo. Shapovalov won the ATP 500 in Dallas and Acapulco, and has been in the competition for the first time since marrying longtime partner Mirjam Bjorklund.

5) Popular Seeds Harrison/Kings seeks third ATP 500 title this year: Christian Harrison and Evan King seek a place in the Nitto ATP final in the PIF live eighth place against Turin, a prize that will reward their dream season. In the ATP in Dallas and Acapulco in the 500s, Americans advanced by qualifying for the trophy. But the losers, Harrison and King, who are Tokyo’s top seeds, are gone forever.

Five things to watch in Beijing:
1) The sinner returns and seeks third place in 2025: Sinner returned to Beijing for the third consecutive year since he finished second in the U.S. Open, having a 9-1 record in his first two outings. Last year, the Italian nearly beat rival Alcaraz in one of the most memorable matches of the 2024 season. The goal of the sinner is to take a step further and then return to the winner’s circle, who reached the championship in 2023.

2) Three-time semi-finalist zverev: The Germans made their sixth appearance in Beijing, only the second time since 2020. The second seed leads Sinner 4-3 in the Lexus ATP Head2head series and may hold another showdown with the Italians in the championship game.

3) Top 10 stars: The Beijing stadium was filled with five top ten players, including Sinners, Zverev, Alex de Minaur, Lorenzo Musetti and Karen Khachanov. De Minaur is the quarterfinals of the season finals. Musetti arrived after having a strong start in Chengdu’s Asian tough swing. No. 10 in the PIF ATP rankings Khachanov is closing his career-high No. 8, which he reached in July 2019.

4) Fans love Lubuff, Medvedev and Bubbik: Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev are the ATP 500 seed players. Medvedev reached the Beijing finals in 2023 and last year’s semi-finals. Prior to Hangzhou, Medvedev shared that he was working with a new team composed of Thomas Johnson and Rohan Gotzker. Alexander Bublik is also in Beijing. The Kazakhs are one of the most reasonable players in the past three months, arriving in Beijing after his run in Hangzhou.

5) Teams around Turin doubles: Beijing’s doubles have a small number of essential pairings. Wimbledon champions Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool won six titles this year and qualified the Nitto ATP final. Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic are also eligible for Turin and will operate in Beijing. There are several singles stars on the field, including Rublev’s collaboration with Khachanov, De Minaur combination Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Musetti, Bublik and others.