These Japanese events are ranking opportunities. Seeded No. 3 ranked 233 is something.
That's seeded 3 in qualifying. There is a strong entry list with no less than 17 players ranked 200 or higher.
Thanks both. Realised my mistake when I looked at the entry list. Although to have three W100 events (Tokyo, Charleston, Oeiras) in the same week as the first week of Madrid 1000 (96 MD, 48Q) is surprising to me.
You won't need to beat a Top 100 player to get 100 points, and you need to reach the Round of 16 in Madrid to get the same. Appreciate the prize money is better in Madrid, and of course you're playing tennis to play the big events, but from purely a rankings perspective the likes of Fran Jones might have been better off playing at W100 level.
But it's always been the case that you can play strategically when climbing the rankings through ATP Challenger/ ITF events, but once you're in the Top 100, many more events are mandated and less easy to get cheap points.
