Three Times in a Year
Miami, Washington, and now... Beijing!
Wait, what am I referring to? Well, the times these two have already faced this year! And yes, ADM won both in straights... 6-4, 6-4 in Miami and 7-6, 6-2 in Washington. ADM is another person who has traveled extensively lately, having played (and lost) the Davis Cup in Australia, the Laver Cup in the US, and now heading to Beijing. He suffered a dramatic shock loss to Collignon at home in the Davis Cup, which must have really hurt him - we know he loves playing for Australia. His matches in the Laver Cup were very clean, with wins of 6-1, 6-4 against Zverev, who struggled to hit winners, and 6-3, 6-4 against Mensik (a good matchup for ADM). So yes, good wins with great scorelines, in slow conditions where ADM is a big pest! As for Bu, I quite like the way he is playing lately; he had a good Winston-Salem, which I covered extensively. An opening-round loss to a great Royer and then a very epic deciding-set tiebreak loss in Hangzhou to fellow Chinese player Zhang.
Any match involving De Minaur is extremely matchup-dependent, since if you can't hit through him and keep up with him, you are getting a 6-2, 6-1 loss! I actually don't hate the matchup for Bu; he is a physically strong player with a decent serve and a very balanced game. He is solid from the baseline and has the ability to come and finish points at the net. I suppose the issue is that he doesn't excel at anything in particular. He doesn't really have that overwhelming power and aggression that ADM really struggles with. However, his fight-hard mentality is a big asset in a matchup like this. Bu did make the semifinals here last year, and defending this amount of points for someone with his ranking (89) is huge pressure and I would be surprised if it doesn't show in the match in some form or shape. ADM is a genuine professional, but he is also someone who has been vocal about the challenges of traveling and the difficulties of being homesick. Yes, he did well in the Laver Cup, but we know how much he loves these kinds of moments. So the question is, can he start off with that same amount of energy now in Beijing against a local, possibly at least a little bit jet-lagged...?
