Eight names off the Hangzhou list
Karen Khachanov is not in China. Neither is Alex Michelsen. Both reached the business end of the US Open, and both decided the Asian swing could wait a little longer.
The ATP 250 in Hangzhou lost eight players from its main draw before a ball was struck. Khachanov was scrapping to protect his ranking a few weeks ago. A semifinal run in New York put him back inside the top 30 and took the urgency out of his schedule. Michelsen is taking his time too, after a quarterfinal defeat that stung as much as it flattered. It was the best Grand Slam result of his career.
Injuries account for most of the rest. Thanasi Kokkinakis has still not recovered from the problem that forced him out of the US Open, which followed a first-round loss in Cincinnati. Corentin Moutet retired during his opening match in New York and had played little before that. Marin Cilic never made it onto court for his first-round match and skips Hangzhou as well.
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Who moves into the draw
Matteo Arnaldi lost four of his five matches on the summer hard courts and extends his break. His clay season was strong, yet he sits outside the top 30. Daniel Altmaier, who has not strung wins together since his semifinal in Halle, is out. Luca Van Assche completes the list.
Mattia Bellucci was the highest-ranked alternate and takes Van Assche’s place. He won two games in his final US Open match, so a reset was overdue. His reward is a first-round meeting with No. 8 seed Kamil Majchrzak.
Terence Atmane replaces Kokkinakis and draws No. 7 seed Jaime Faria. Harsh on paper, though Atmane usually saves his best tennis for the back half of the season.
Kyrian Jacquet came in for Khachanov, Aleksandar Vukic for Michelsen, and the draw put them against each other in round one. Jacquet fell in qualifying in New York. Vukic went down in a five-set first round.
Bu gets his rematch
Yunchaokete Bu arrives in better shape than most of the alternates. He beat 12th seed Rafael Jodar convincingly in the US Open first round before going out in the second. Taking Cilic’s spot, he opens against Michael Zheng, the wildcard who ended his run in New York.
Adam Walton, Roman Safiullin and Coleman Wong all exited the US Open in round one and step in for Altmaier, Arnaldi and Moutet. Ranking points are sitting there for whoever wants them badly enough.
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