China's aces face best of the rest

Veteran Li, who beat the 18-year-old Wu in the second round en route to the semifinals at this year's Shanghai challenger, expects to maintain his winning form, while Zhang, China's current top ace at world No 220, is on a roll after winning the ATP Challenger in Chengdu in August.

Always a fan favorite since his debut Shanghai outing in 2002 at the then year-end event, 20-time Grand Slam singles champion Federer is playing an ambassadorial role for the tournament and sang a birthday song in Chinese in an earlier promotional video to celebrate the event's 10-year anniversary.

Luevano said in an interview with Tennis World that Federer's phenomenal popularity in Shanghai is understandable.

"All of his sponsors are involved with us as well," he said. "I really think that he feels Shanghai is his tournament. He helped make it successful, he opened the marketplace, so first of all he is enjoying himself, as well as being able to compete and win here."

Fellow headliner Djokovic, who has rebounded from an elbow injury to add two more major trophies at Wimbledon and the US Open this season, will be trying to add a fourth title in Shanghai after victories in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

The withdrawal of current world No 1 Rafa Nadal due to a knee injury has further opened the field.

To mark the tournament's 10th anniversary, organizers have launched "Master Training Camp", "Super FAN" and other value-for-money ticketing options. All tickets for the last three days of the competition are sold out.