Where's Jodar!?

I'm sure we all expected to see the Spaniard here...

Well, even if you had a feeling that Bu would cause him trouble, I'm sure you didn't expect him to win 6-2, 6-1, 6-1, did you? Yunchaokete was coming in as a lucky loser, and he definitely took his chance. We know that the Chinese can be tough opponents; he is a hard worker with a lot of physicality in his game. Jodar was clearly not at his best; all the matches he has played this year and, perhaps even more importantly, all the matches during the North American hardcourt swing, finally caught up to him. He said that he was fine physically, but mental fatigue is a thing as well. An outstanding win that we have to put a bit into perspective, of course, but the momentum and confidence gain should be really valuable for Bu, who has struggled to find consistency on the main tour.

While the three of us (Marcos, Elie, and I) agreed that Zheng's level seems to have dropped off a bit lately, we haven't had much success going against him. Well, we did with Musetti, but Humbert and Marozsan have played disastrous matches against the young American. That was the case yesterday as well... a straight-sets win for Zheng. I found him solid, but at the same time, he didn't have to do a lot; Marozsan could not keep the ball in court - it was pretty awful. It's not like the Hungarian got put in a hard position on the court either; he kept missing short balls repeatedly. Still, I'm going to be careful not to underestimate Zheng; I still find him intelligent and calm under pressure... and yes, solid!

This should be quite an entertaining battle between two Solid Baseliners. I don't really mind this matchup for Bu; he can be strong in this kind of battle from the baseline, especially against opponents that lack the weapons to blow him off the court with power and serving. As for Zheng, I don't think it's a bad matchup for him either. While some of his recent wins have been against erratic opponents, I feel that he can match up well against other solid players as well...