Andy Murray’s appearance in Zhuhai recently will boost the tournament in years to come, according to the tournament organisers.
Murray earned the first tour-level win of his comeback in the Chinese city, beating Tennys Sandgren in the first round.
It was a victory he described at the time as “one of the best wins he has ever had”. The Brit was knocked out in the last 16 by Alex de Minaur as his comeback from a hip injury continued.
Murray finally got his hands on a trophy again, for the first time since March 2017, at the European Open last week with hopes that he will play the Australian Open in January.
But having had Murray feature at the first ever Zhuhai Championships, the tournament organisers believe he can help the competition grow.
“This is the first year we had an ATP tournament in Zhuhai,” Peter Lv, general manager of Huafa Sports, said.
“To attract top talent straightaway is really going to help to build an image of the tournament.
“He confirmed with us very late, the tournament was in September and we heard in August.
“He really helped with the occupancy of the stadium and the viewership and we hope we can invite him over for future events.
“We will always welcome Andy Murray to Zhuhai and hope to see him again.”
And Lv will be pleased with Murray’s view of the tournament.
He said: “I really, really like it. We get looked after really well.
“Every time we come to China, all the tournaments I’ve played at, it’s a really nice facility for the players. I think the center court is a nice, nice stadium.
“It’s very close to the courts, the hotel. It’s obviously a very nice hotel we get to stay in.
“That’s one of the things that some of the tournaments that we played like in Shenzhen last year, the time to get from the hotel to the courts was pretty long.
“Here everything is very convenient. Yeah, it’s nice. I’ve liked it so far.”
