Big first round for Quentin.

Halys is the number 4 seed in this tournament and could have gotten a better draw with his protection. But that’s not really the case. I think it would have been hard to do worse than getting Safiullin.

Halys is coming straight back from Canada after a three-set loss to FAA. On paper, it’s actually a pretty good defeat against a top player. But above all, Halys was incredibly clinical, as usual, with a single break point converted and a tie-break won. On the other hand, in the rest of the match, he was clearly outplayed by FAA. You could say that’s often the case for the Frenchman, who is extremely resilient and plays with constant fighting spirit to make up for a level of play that is often not that great, in my opinion.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh on him, but I really feel like his salvation depends more on mental strength than on explosive tennis. I also often get the impression that physically he starts to struggle quite quickly and has to fight not to fall apart. That’s obviously something that stands out to me before this match, because there’s a long trip to make from Canada and, even if he got a bit of a break by not playing the first round here, it’s more of a general fatigue that could start to show in the weeks to come. I’ll be watching that very closely, especially since the humidity is quite high. The slightest physical weakness will be felt tenfold.

We don’t really have the same questions about Safiullin, who arrived in China quite early and just destroyed a young local player to kick off his campaign. Obviously, we’ll need to see more before saying the Russian is a huge threat, but his track record on Asian swings is something concrete we can rely on. He likes the conditions and very often plays his best tennis here. I haven’t been hugely convinced by the last few weeks, but he also had a good spell at the start of the season. I think he needed a breather and that he’ll build up steam again on this swing, which he particularly enjoys.

Matches between them are always tight, which seems pretty logical to me, but I still give a slight edge to Safiullin, who returns well and handles slightly aggressive baseline players, even if Halys can be solid and make you play.