After a Bye ALS no. 2 Seed, Daniil Medvedev will kick off his Hangzhou campaign against qualifying Nishsh Basavareddy on Saturday. The winner will meet Sebastian Korda or Yibing Wu in the quarterfinals.
(Q) Nishsh Basavareddy vs. (2) Daniil Medvedev
Medvedev plays for the first time since his Notorious US Open Loss for Benjamin Bonzi When he opens the court in the Hangzhou on Saturday. This is also Mark’s Medvedev’s first performance since the splitting of coach Gilles Cervara. The 29-year-old is in the middle of a terrible season that has him in 18th place in the ranking, and he has still not won ATP title since the spring of 2023 in Rome.
First for Medvedev is a second round matchup with Basavareddy. While the second seed plays its first game of the week, Basavareddy has already followed three victories under his belt-two in qualifying followed by a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 defeat of title defender Marin Cilic. This is a dangerous match for Medvedev, because the 20-year-old American is a rock-solid counter-puncher that will bring many balls into play. However, if the Russian serves well, he may win just enough free points to continue.
Pick: Medvedev in 3
(WC) Yibing Wu vs. Sebastian Korda
It will be a fight between players due to injuries, when Korda and Wu also collide in their career on Saturday for the first time. Wu will clearly have the Chinese crowd completely on its side, just as he hit the 25-year-old 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the round one against Adrian Mannarino-Wie. That was Wu’s third ATP level competition victory of the season, a large part that he missed for an injury.
Wu comes in at number 196 in the world, while Korda has also been arranged far lower where he should be number 79. The 25-year-old American missed the entire Gras-Court Swing, withdrew from Winston-Salem due to illness prior to the semi-final and then withdrew from his first round match at the US Open. Korda did well to beat Adam Walton 7-5, 6-3 on Friday, but the former world no. 15 clearly remains a question mark. In fact, it would be a bit surprising if this competition does not end up in some way in retirement. Korda is currently not overly reliable, but it is more reliable than Wu.
Pick: Korda in 2
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