The Chengdu Open today announces the full singles main draw entry list and an entry cut-off of 59, for the US$947,735 ATP 250 tournament which takes place at the Sichuan International Tennis Centre, September 24 to October 2, 2016.

In this inaugural year, eleven nations are represented by the 19 direct acceptances, four of those nations have more than one player with Spain having the most, four, followed by Argentina and France with three each. In addition to the 19 direct entries, the 28 player main draw will have three wild cards, four qualifiers and two special exempts if necessary.

Already confirmed are five marquee names: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (who is joined by fellow-countrymen Jeremy Chardy and Adrian Mannarino), Nick Kyrgios, Feliciano Lopez, Kevin Anderson and Grigor Dimitrov. Today the tournament team put forward the remainder of the field which fans in Chengdu are sure to find exciting. There is a fantastic mix of players – ones who are well established on the Tour being joined by others destined for great things.

One of the exciting young guns of tennis and also part of the “Next Gen” ATP promotion campaign is Croatian Borna Coric. He was a finalist in Chennai and Marrakech this year and made quarters in Estoril and Cincinnati where he beat Rafa Nadal.

Viktor Troicki and Marcos Baghdatis are among the more established names coming to Chengdu; Troicki won Sydney and reached the final in Sofia, made the quarters in Rotterdam and the last 16 at Barcelona and Roland Garros while Baghdatis this year has made the final in Dubai, the semis in Newport and the quarters in Nottingham, Halle, Houston and Montpellier.

One of the year’s movers is Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, considered by many as the leader of the next generation of Spanish players. Now at a career high ranking of 39, last weekend he won his first career ATP title at Winston-Salem. This has been the best year for the 25 year old who reached finals in Estoril and Sao Paulo, the semis of Los Cabos and the quarters four other times. He is joined by former top-ten Spaniard Nicolas Almagro who is finding his form after a 2015 season plagued by injury.

Tennis is delighted to see the return of Argentine Juan Monaco return to the Tour after a series of frustrating injuries who is beginning to find his form with solid results such as winning Houston and being a quarterfinalist in Rome where he beat Stan Wawrinka and Anderson. He will be joined by fellow hard-hitting countryman Federico Delbonis. And then there is Portugal’s Joao Sousa, who won his first career title in Kuala Lumpur in 2013 and who has made the semis in Nice this year and the quarters in Umag, Bastad and Madrid.

Said Tournament Director Nick Freyer of IMG : “With this being the first year of the Chengdu Open, we are humbled by the strong support of the ATP players who we hope to thank by providing a wonderful hotel in the St. Regis, great athlete friendly food, an on-site golf driving range, complimentary racket stringing, efficient organization, excellent player facilities, friendly people and one of the best tennis balls in tennis.”

Fans will have the opportunity enjoy Hawkeye electronic line calling technology on centre court, and can in addition join the “Catch the Ball” competition after al centre court matches. This entails player who wins each match autographing five match balls and hitting them into the stands, while before matches there is the chance to clinch an autographed giant tennis ball that will be tossed into the stands by the players. And if that is not enough, daily-organised selfies with players could certainly be a big potential prize.

All this while a live DJ turns up the volume on great music. On-site at the Chengdu Open is going to be top fun.