Beijing, China, 2 October 2017 | tennis.com.au
Nick Kyrgios opens his China Open campaign against Nikoloz Basilashvili as he commences his Asian swing in Beijing.
Kyrgios, the eighth seed at the ATP 500 event, has landed in the same quarter of the draw as No.4 seed Pablo Carreno Busta, a recent US Open semifinalist.
Kyrgios has never before met Basilashvili, the Georgian player ranked 59th.
He will attempt to reach the second round, just as his compatriots Sam Stosur and Daria Gavrilova did earlier at the combined ATP/WTA event.
Stosur scored the first win of her comeback against Katerina Siniakova on Sunday, while on Saturday, Gavrilova advanced to the second round with a 7-5 7-5 win over Anett Kontaveit.
Ash Barty, a finalist at the weekend in Wuhan, received a first-round bye.
In Tokyo, two more Aussies, Bernard Tomic and Matt Ebden, will contest the ATP Rakuten Japan Open.
Ebden reached the main draw thanks to two wins in qualifying and will face Ivo Karlovic in round one, while Tomic opens against Portugal’s Joao Sousa.
