Andy Murray gets nightmare China Open draw; Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas on collision course

Andy Murray in action

Andy Murray has been handed a horror draw at the China Open as he was paired with big-serving Italian Matteo Berrettini.

Murray played two rounds at Zhuhai this week and declared himself encouraged with how he was progressing, but will certainly be up against it to advance in Beijing.

Berrettini, the eighth-seed, has established himself as one of the top young players on the tour this season, and his huge serve and powerful forehand had Rafael Nadal scrambling at times in their recent US Open clash.

It is a strong field for the ATP500 tournament, headed by world number five Dominic Thiem.

He will face Richard Gasquet in the opening round and is in Murray and Berrettini’s half of the draw.

Kyle Edmund will look to recover his form against wildcard entry Zhizhen Zhang, with Karen Khachanov, Marco Cecchinato, Grigor Dimitrov, Fabio Fognini, and Andrey Rublev also in the top half of the draw.

Second-seed Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas are the star names in the bottom half, with Zverev being handed arguably the tie of the round when he meets Frances Tiafoe first up.

Tsitsipas faces Dusan Lajovic first, with Felix Auger-Aliassime amd Roberto Bautista Agut likely to stand in Zverev’s way in rounds two and three.

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