Safiullin's Struggles

Will the real Safiullin please stand up, please stand up...

For a while, Safiullin had been having close results with a lot of tiebreak losses... it felt like a good run with some change of fortunes was coming. However, that has not really happened... He is still losing most of his matches, and the ones he has won have been through a lot of struggle, despite being a sizable favorite. So, yes, he is not playing at the same level as we have seen in the past, and his confidence is at an all-time low. His BP conversion and TB winning % are really bad! O'Connell got a "big" win over Tsitsipas but was unable to follow it up in Toronto, having to walkover his next match against ADM with "Oblique Pain". He was unable to play in Cincinnati and another CH tournament after that for the same reason.

O'Connell can struggle against Attacking Baseliners like Safiullin, who overwhelm him with their aggression and also have the ability to expose his 1HBH. However, can Safiullin maintain enough aggression without spraying errors like he has been lately? I prefer O'Connell against more passive players; he tends to be solid and reliable against those! I don't love the matchup for Safiullin either; he needs to face other players who are attacking and error-prone. Ultimately, much of this will depend on the severity of O'Connell's injury (oblique injuries often have a big impact). He has already skipped two tournaments. Is he truly ready for this one, or is he just using it as a test before the US Open?