China Open vs Japan Open

By D. Westphalen 

JAPAN OPEN  

The Rakuten Japan Open is a male’s only tennis competition that takes place in the Ariake Tennis Forest Park in Tokyo. It was founded in 1972, and until 2008 it was a male and female tournament. However, this is no longer the case because the Ariake Tennis Forest Park began to host a female-only tournament called the Toray Pan Pacific Open. The tournament was discontinued in 2010, but the men’s tournament is still part of the ATP World Tour 500 Series. The courts where the games are played are outdoor hardcourts, similar to the US open. 

The championship only has two categories, the men’s singles and men’s doubles. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev won the 2018 men’s singles defeating the Japanese Kei Nishikori, and Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff and Japan’s Ben McLachlan defeated South Africa’s Raven Klaasen and New Zealand’s Michael Venus in the men’s doubles finals. 

CHINA OPEN  

The China Open is a men and women’s tennis tournament, it is hosted in Beijing in its beautiful National Tennis Center. Like the Japan and US Open, it is played in the outdoor hardcourts.  It is a new tournament as it began in 2004 and has four categories, men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles, which is different to the Olympics which has 5 categories (it also has the men and women’s doubles).   

​Novak Djokovic holds the record for the most titles won with six and has four consecutive titles from 2012-2015. He also has an amazing achievement: he has never lost a game in the China Open, ever. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Agnieszka Radwańska, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki are tied for the most singles championship with two each. 

In 2018: Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki defeated Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in the women’s singles finals; Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili beat Argentina’s Juan Martín Del Potro in the men’s singles final; Czech Republic’s Andrea Sestini and Barbora Stryová defeated Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and China’s Xu Yifan in the women’s doubles finals; Poland’s Lukasz Kubot and Brasil’s Marcelo Melo beat Austria’s Oliver Marach and Croatia’s Mate Pavić in the men’s doubles finals.