German rising star Alexander Zverev will be playing at this year's China Open in Beijing, the tournament announced on Thursday. The 21-year-old, who debuted in the Beijing main draw in 2016, is set to play in the main draw the tournament for the third year in a row.

Zverev, ranked at No. 3 in the world, was stopped by Australian rising star Nick Kyrgios in last year's China Open semi-final. The German failed to make it past the Beijing qualifying event in 2015 but debuted at the tournament a year later.

In his first Beijing main draw appearance, Zverev reached the quarter-final -- where he lost to 2013 French Open runner-up David Ferrer. Three-time Masters champion Zverev will certainly be targeting to make it a step further this year in Beijing and potentially win it all.

However, the German won't have an easy job as defending champion Rafael Nadal is set to defend his title in Beijing Indian Wells Masters champion Juan Martin del Potro and former world No. 1 Andy Murray are also expected to play in Beijing this year.

Zverev didn't have a particularly great indoor season last year as after a Beijing semi-final showing he only made the last-16 at the Shanghai Masters before he reached the quarter-final in Vienna. The German then shockingly lost to Dutch Robin Haase in his Paris Masters opener and also failed to make it past the Round Robin stage at the ATP Finals event.

The China Open in Beijing is due to take place from 01-07 October. Also read: Nick Kyrgios withdraws from Citi Open in Washington