China Open Round-Up: Cobolli shocks Rublev, Musetti and Zverev confirm their favoritism

The first round of the ATP 500 China Open was concluded, with several major stars taking to the court for their debut, including second seed Alexander Zverev and 4th seed Lorenzo Musetti—both securing wins to advance in Beijing.

There was also room for surprises, following the triumph of Flavio Cobolli over Andrey Rublev, as well as the victory of qualifier Adrian Mannarino over Alexander Bublik—who had won four titles in a row at the ATP level (excluding Grand Slams). The Round of 16 is now set, featuring stars like Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur, among others.

One of the matches that opened the day at the China Open featured World No. 14 Rublev—the 6th seed on this occasion—facing the rising Italian Flavio Cobolli (No. 25). The young Italian played in the Laver Cup last week, facing João Fonseca in a single singles match on the first day, which was the only defeat for Team Europe on that day.

This time, Cobolli earned a victory, showing imposing service performance—with 80% first serves in and saving 7/9 break points against him. In a tight first set, he overcame a hesitant start and a 5-2 deficit to push everything to the tie-break and secure the set. The story was similar in the second set: Rublev took an early break lead, but Cobolli managed to recover, and then, in the moments of highest tension, he secured the victory 7-6(3), 6-3.

This was one of the evening matchups, as former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev (No. 18) faced the ever-tricky Cameron Norrie (No. 34). The Russian has had a complicated season and has made several changes to his team in recent weeks following the separation from his long-time coach, Gilles Cervara. The Russian arrived with four losses in his last five appearances, but this time, he seemed to rediscover his inspired form.

Against Norrie, Medvedev spent almost the entire first set ahead on the scoreboard, being much more aggressive than his opponent with 13 winners to the British left-hander's mere two, taking the set 6-3. In the second half, Norrie managed to narrow the gap and even took the lead with an early break. However, he couldn't sustain the level, and after being troubled several times on his serve, Medvedev ultimately came out victorious late in the set, guaranteeing his win 6-3, 6-4. In the second round, he faces another tough challenge against Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Lorenzo Musetti was the protagonist of perhaps the most attractive match on the men's side of the draw. He arrived with shaken confidence after losing the Chengdu Open final to Alejandro Tabilo—a match where he wasted two match points and extended his title drought since 2022. The World No. 9 quickly traveled to Beijing and faced a very tough draw against arguably the best server on the Tour today—Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

As expected, there was little rhythm and few long exchanges in a match where Musetti had to patiently wait for his opportunities. The Italian took the first set in a tie-break, and the second set went to GMP—also in a tie-break. In the decisive set, an early break from Musetti was enough to cling to the lead until the match closed. The Italian won 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 6-4, despite Mpetshi hitting 14 aces to Musetti's four.

Alexander Zverev took the court in the last match of the night against the always complicated Lorenzo Sonego (No. 44). The German is the second seed on this occasion and showed his favored status without facing major issues throughout the match. Although the Italian managed to challenge 'Sascha' in the first set—maintaining equality for a long stretch—Zverev finally prevailed in the final moments of the set, taking the lead with his first break for 6-4.

The second set also looked set to be tight, after both began by easily defending their service games. However, Zverev surged forward moments later, taking command and winning four consecutive games to take the lead 5-1. The World No. 3 suffered a break precisely when serving for the victory, but it ultimately proved to be just an anecdote, delaying Zverev's 6-4, 6-3 victory by a few minutes. He will now meet Corentin Moutet in the second round.