Men's singles draw revealed: Chinese trio face tough tests as Sinner gets Cilic

BEIJING -- The draw for the 2025 China Open has been released, setting a marquee first-round showdown between 2023 champion and top seed Jannik Sinner against 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic.

World No.2 Sinner is playing his first ATP Tour tournament since the US Open, where he became the youngest man in the Open Era to make the final of all four Grand Slams in a single season. He joined an exclusive list of legends to achieved the feat, along with Rod Laver, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. The Italian holds an outstanding 9-1 record in Beijing, where he is bidding to win his third title of the year.

Sinner anchors the top half of the draw along with No.3 seed Alex DeMinaur, No.5 seed Karen Khachanov, and No.7 seed Jakob Mensik. The outcome of his first-round encounter with 59th-ranked Cilic will be of interest to Chinese fans, as the winner could face Zhang Zhizhen in the second round.

Zhang, who reached a career-high ranking at No.31 last year, is on the comeback path after being sidelined for six months with a shoulder injury. Beijing is just his second tournament since Indian Wells. He will open his tournament against a qualifier.

Including Zhang, all three Chinese wildcards landed in the top half of the draw. Zhang's doubles partner for the week, Shang Jungchen, was also drawn against a qualifier.

Bu Yunchaokete will face the tough task of taking on No.3 seed De Minaur, who is coming off a rousing win for Team World at the Laver Cup in San Francisco. At Laver Cup, DeMinaur scored his first Top 5 win in over a year with a straight-set victory over Alexander Zverev, who is seeded No.2 in Beijing.

World No.3 Zverev leads the bottom half of the draw with No.4 seed Lorenzo Musetti, No.6 seed Andrey Rublev, and No.8 seed Daniil Medvedev. The 28-year-old German is a three-time semifinalist in Beijing, and is looking to win his second title of the season, having captured his home event in Munich in the spring. He will open his campaign against Italy's Lorenzo Sonego.

The remaining seeds in the bottom half of the draw will need to be at their best when the tournament begins on Thursday. No.4 seed Musetti, who is set to play the final in Chengdu, will face a quick turnaround when he squares up against big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France. No.6 seed Rublev will open against Italy's Flavio Cobolli, while No.8 seed Medvedev takes on Cameron Norrie of Great Britain.