Valentin Vacherot is the top seed at the Chengdu Open and returns to China for the first time since his title run at the 2025 Shanghai Masters. That result reset expectations for him, and it also means he arrives with a target on his back rather than the anonymity that helped him in Shanghai.
The draw did not do him many favours. Vacherot takes a first round bye, but defending champion Alejandro Tabilo sits in the same half as the third seed. Tabilo's flat lefty game travels well on quick hard courts and he already knows how to win seven days here. Between them sits the winner of Jia Hu against Vit Kopriva plus the Sebastian Baez and Jenson Brooksby survivor, with Baez holding a 2-0 head to head in straight sets.
The bottom half belongs to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, making his Chengdu debut off the back of a maiden title in Mallorca, and fourth seed Botic van de Zandschulp, fresh from a second US Open quarterfinal.
Vacherot has the level to reach the weekend. A Tabilo semifinal is the obstacle worth watching.
**Prediction: Vacherot reaches the semifinals. Confidence: medium.**