Top seed Casper Ruud leads a packed field into the ATP Rakuten Japan Open that includes Americans Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz, and Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.
With the tournament running from October 3-9 and tennis markets already opened to betting, with first-round tennis matches on the board, we’ll weigh in on the much-anticipated action.
We’ll bring you a preview of the ATP Tokyo Open and analyse the 32-player draw, all the while looking at the latest tennis news, stats and tennis odds.
Read on for our ATP Tokyo Open Preview. We’ll check the latest Tennis picks, stats, injury reports, and Tennis odds for this distinguished event and serve up our choice Tennis predictions for you to consider.
ATP Rakuten Japan Open Outright Odds
- Nick Kyrgios +260
- Casper Ruud +550
- Taylor Fritz +700
- Frances Tiafoe +750
- Denis Shapovalov +750
- Borna Coric +900
- Alex De Minaur +900
- Brandon Nakashima +1100
- Daniel Evans +1400
- Miomir Kecmanovic +2800
- Yoshihito Nishioka +2800
- Mackenzie McDonald
- Taro Daniel +4000
- Thanasi Kokkinakis +4000
- Soonwoo Kwon +6600
- Pedro Martinez +6600
- Alexei Popyrin +6600
- Radu Albot +8000
- Steve Johnson +8000
- Kamil Majchrzak +8000
- Jaume Munar +8000
- Bernabe Zapata Miralles +10000
- James Duckworth +15000
- Chun Hsin-Tseng +15000
- Shintaro Mochizuki +25000
- Rio Noguchi +25000
- Yasutaka Uchiyama +25000
- Hiroki Moriya +25000
- Ramkumar Ramathan +25000
- Sho Shimabukuro +25000
- Yuta Shmizu +25000
First Quarter: Ruud, De Minaur On Quarterfinal Collision Course
- Top seeds: No.1 Ruud and No. 6 De Minaur
- Dangerous Floater (s): Soonwoo Kwon
Top seed Ruud falls into the first quarter, which is flanked by No. 6 seed Alex De Minaur of Australia. The Norwegian is in the midst of a banner season, reaching a career-high World No.2 ranking, winning three titles (clay) and making the finals of the French Open (l. to Rafael Nadal) and the US Open (l. to Carlos Alcaraz).
Ruud is coming off a quarterfinal appearance in Seoul, where he lost to giant-slayer Yoshihito Nishioka in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 2-6. He’ll be hoping for better results this week in the Japanese capital.
Epic Yoshi✌️ @yoshihitotennis earns his biggest career win by ranking, defeating World No.2 Casper Ruud, 6-2 3-6 6-2 in Seoul. #KoreaOpen pic.twitter.com/agPV68aR9c
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) September 30, 2022
Ruud opens his tournament against Jaume Munar. If he gets past the Spaniard, he’ll face the winner of Pedro Martinez and Alexei Popyrin. In the quarterfinals, he could face sixth seed De Minaur, assuming the Aussie navigates a successful course into the final eight.
De Minaur opens his tournament against Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon. Kwon is a dangerous floater that could shake up this section of the draw, if not emerge out of this quarter into the semis. As such, he’s one to spot in the betting online markets.
Should De Minaur come through his early test against Kwon, he will face the winner of American MacKenzie McDonald and wild card Kaichi Uchida of Japan.
Second Quarter: Tiafoe, Evans On Quarterfinal Collision Course
- Top seeds: No.4 Tiafoe and No. 8 Evans
- Dangerous Floater (s): Nishioka and Kecmanovic
American hopeful Tiafoe lands in a modestly challenging second quarter that is flanked by No. 8 seed Daniel Evans, who is enjoying a mini-resurgence. If all goes to plan, the pair will meet in the quarterfinals. But that’s a big if, considering the section includes a couple of dangerous floaters, namely Nishioka who is coming off a title winning run in Seoul.
Tiafoe opens his tournament against Japanese wild card Yasutaka Uchiyama. He then takes on the winner of Daniel Taro vs Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
Evans’ path to the quarters is a bit more treacherous with Nishioka and Miomir Kecmanovic in his path– one of which is going to be a R16 opponent. Before Evans can look that far ahead, he faces journeyman Radu Albot in the first round.
Third Quarter: Fritz, Kyrgios On Quarterfinal Collision Course
- Top seeds: No.3 Fritz and No. 4 Kyrgios
- Dangerous Floater (s): Moriya
American hopeful Fritz and Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios headline the third third quarter. As the seeds in this section, they’re projected to collide in the quarterfinals.
Fritz will face stiff competition from James Duckworth in the R32. The Australian won their first-ever Tour-level meeting at the 2021 ATP Masters 1000 in Canada, edging Fritz 7-6 (2), 6-3 in the R64.
Duckworth has struggled this season and will be the underdog here. But having the 1-0 edge could motivate him to the upset over the American.
Should Fritz survive the first round, he will face the winner of the All-Japanese affair between qualifier Yuta Shimizu and lucky loser Hiroki Moriya.
Moriya moved into Borna Coric’s spot in the draw. (The Croatian was moved up to the No. 2 seed spot on Sunday, replacing Cameron Norrie who tested positive for Covid-19 and was forced to withdraw as a result.) As a lucky loser, Moriya is the dangerous floater of this section, He’s playing with house money and he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Kyrgios has a more straightforward section to navigate. He begins his campaign against Chun-Hsin Tseng. In the second round, he’ll face either a qualifier Sho Shimabukuro or Kamil Majchrzak.
Rod Laver has high praise for Nick Kyrgios. 🙌#9WWOS #Tennis pic.twitter.com/xZxkXzkaNn
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) September 29, 2022
Fourth Quarter: Coric, Shapovalov On Quarterfinal Collision Course
- Top seeds: No. 9 Coric and No. 7 Shapovalov
- Dangerous Floater (s): Nakashima and Kokkinakis
Coric just missed out on being seeded in the tournament when the draw was unveiled. But following No. 2 seed Cameron Norrie’s withdrawal due to COVID19 on Sunday, Coric was bumped up the draw and moved into his spot.
To be fair, Norrie’s misfortune is Coric’s fortune as he escapes a loaded third quarter that boasts two of the tournament favorites, Kyrgios and Fritz.
Coric opens his campaign against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis. In the second round, he could face American Brandon Nakashima or wild card Shintaro Mochizuki in the R16.
No. 7 seed Shapovalov is the second seeded player in this section. Shapovalov is coming off a runner-up finish in Seoul after he lost to Nishioka, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in Sunday’s final. The Canadian will be looking to carry the momentum into Tokyo, but he’ll be challenged on his path.
Shapovalov opens his campaign against wily veteran Steve Johnson of the USA. In the second round, he’ll face the winner of the matchup between qualifiers Rio Noguchi and Ramanthan Ramkumar.
