Day 2 at ATP Beijing brings ten first-round matches as the remaining top seeds make their tournament debuts. The standout clash on paper is French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli, seeded fourth, against the always dangerous Roman Safiullin. Here are my predictions for every match on the schedule.
These two have never met before, so there is no head to head history to lean on. Baez came into the season playing the best hard court tennis of his career, but the last couple of months have been rough. He has struggled to win matches and taken some heavy defeats along the way. The form simply is not there right now.
Shang comes in as a wild card and arrives on a four match losing streak of his own, but this feels like a good spot for the young Chinese player to turn things around. He has made the Beijing main draw four times now and knows this environment well. On slow courts at home, with a crowd behind him against an opponent visibly low on confidence, Shang should find a way to get through this one.
Prediction: Shang in 3
Rinderknech leads their head to head 2 to 0 and will be looking to get his first tour level match win since a solid run to the third round at the US Open. He played a couple of Davis Cup ties recently but lost both, so he is carrying a degree of rust. With Shanghai coming up and finalist points to defend, he needs momentum badly.
Molcan has at least been active, having come through two qualifying rounds to reach the main draw, and those wins over solid opponents are worth something. That said, his record on hard courts this season at tour level is poor, and he tends to struggle against players ranked inside the top 50. Rinderknech has the quality advantage and the head to head edge, and despite not being in peak form, he should have enough to come through.
Prediction: Rinderknech in 3
First meeting between these two. Hurkacz will arrive in Beijing feeling better about himself after reaching the final in Chengdu, his first tour level final since May 2025. For a player who has fallen from the top 10, that was a real confidence boost, and he was serving brilliantly throughout the week, averaging over 13 aces per match.
The problem is that Beijing is one of the slowest hard court venues on the entire tour, and that is bad news for a player whose game is built around the serve and clean winners. Tien made the final here last year and knows exactly how to construct points on these conditions. He is patient, grinds well, and is incredibly difficult to hit through when the court is this sluggish. With a short turnaround between tournaments working against Hurkacz as well, I think Tien is the right call here.
Prediction: Tien in 3
De Minaur leads the head to head 1 to 0 and comes in as the fifth seed. It has been a frustrating season overall for the Australian by his own high standards, but a win over Alexander Zverev at the Laver Cup gave him a real lift and should carry some confidence into this week.
On paper this looks comfortable for De Minaur, but Navone is no pushover on these surfaces. He upset Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini at the US Open and clearly has the game to cause problems. The slow courts here will suit his heavy groundstroke style and bring out long exchanges that Navone thrives in. Still, De Minaur’s serve is sharper and his ability to construct points at the net gives him an edge in the tight moments. Expect a grinding three setter, but the Australian should find a way.
Prediction: De Minaur in 3
Cobolli leads their one previous meeting and arrives in Beijing as the fourth seed and one of the form players of the year after reaching the French Open final. He is a solid all court performer who can absorb pressure and fight through slow court conditions without any obvious weakness to exploit.
Safiullin had a great week in Hangzhou, reaching his first tour level semifinal in over two years, and he will want to carry that form forward. The concern is the surface. Safiullin is at his best on faster courts where his ball striking generates real damage. Beijing takes that weapon away from him and hands the advantage firmly to someone like Cobolli, who is comfortable grinding from the baseline and waiting for the right moment. This one should be fairly routine for the Italian.
Prediction: Cobolli in 2
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