For the second year in a row, Carlos Alcaraz will return to play at the China Open, the tournament has confirmed.
Alcaraz made his debut at the tournament last year, scoring wins over Yannick Hanfmann, Lorenzo Musetti, and Casper Ruud before losing to eventual champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinal.
The Spaniard got a taste of the ATP's famed Asian Swing for the first time as the tour made its first pitstop on Chinese soil since 2019. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing and the Masters 1000 in Shanghai could not be held between 2020 and 2022.
Alcaraz was a major star attraction in Beijing and Shanghai last year when World No. 1 Novak Djokovic announced his absence. The 20-year-old was also in contention to overtake the Serb in the year-end rankings.
But it wasn't quite the debut he expected by his own high standards. Alcaraz faltered not only in Beijing but also in Shanghai the following week, which pretty much ended his hopes of replacing Djokovic as World No. 1.
"Hola, I'm Carlitos. I'm happy to come back to Beijing. I enjoyed my first trip to the China Open a lot, so thank you very much for all the love. And I will see you soon in Beijing."
His presence at this year's tournament comes during a busy period on the ATP calendar. The two-time Grand Slam winner will only have four days of travel time and preparation for the event because he will be playing at the Laver Cup for the first time before that.
Alcaraz is also among a few top stars who have been invited to compete at the lucrative million-dollar "6 Kings Slam" in Saudi Arabia, which will be held in October at an unconfirmed date.
The World No. 3 will be joined by last year's finalist Daniil Medvedev in Beijing. They are among the two confirmed participants at the tournament so far, as announced on the China Open X account (formerly Twitter).
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