Shenzhen and Chengdu previews and predictions

The Asian swing is going to get good—you just may have a hard time believing it based on the upcoming tournaments. Prior to much bigger and better events in Beijing (500), Tokyo (500), and Shanghai (1000), Chengdu and Shenzhen will share center stage. Zero top-10 players are in action, although David Goffin, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Andy Murray at least give Shenzhen some intrigue. In Chengdu, meanwhile, Fabio Fognini and Hyeon Chung are the top two seeds.

Shenzhen Open

Where: Shenzhen, China
Surface: Hard
Prize money: $733,655
Points: 250

Top seed: David Goffin
Defending champion: David Goffin

Draw analysis: Murray is the biggest name in the field and Goffin is the No. 1 seed, but at least one will be gone prior to the quarterfinals. The 311th-ranked Scot is kicking off his campaign against Chinese wild card Zhizhen Zhang, with the winner to go up against Goffin in round two. A relatively difficult top half of the bracket also includes Fernando Verdasco, Borna Coric, and Denis Shapovalov. Neither Coric nor Shapovalov should have much trouble setting up what would be a blockbuster quarterfinal contest.

Tsitsipas has been awesome this season, but he may be paying the price for a heavy workload as he rounds the 2018 home stretch in the fall. The 20-year-old Greek got crushed by Daniil Medvedev in the U.S. Open second round and he dropped his Metz opener last week to Ricardas Berankis, who had been on a nine-match losing streak. Tsitsipas owns an extremely favorable draw in Shenzhen, where he could face Alex de Minaur in the semifinals.

First-round upset alert: Albert Ramos-Vinolas over (8) Andreas Seppi. Ramos-Vinolas has won 18 matches this season and is ranked 54th, while Seppi comes in with 19 victories and registers at No. 47. This obviously could go either way. Ramos-Vinolas won their only previous hard-court encounter back in 2010 Paris qualifying, while Seppi prevailed on clay at the 2014 Munich tournament.

Hot: David Goffin, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Borna Coric, Alex de Minaur, Cameron Norrie

Cold: Andy Murray, Jiri Vesely, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Viktor Troicki

Semifinal predictions: David Goffin over Borna Coric and Alex de Minaur over Andreas Seppi

Final: Goffin over de Minaur

[polldaddy poll=10114639]

Chengdu Open

Where: Chengdu, China
Surface: Hard
Prize Money: $1,070,040
Points: 250

Top seed: Fabio Fognini
2017 champion: Denis Istomin (not playing)

Draw analysis: Chinese fans cannot be particularly thrilled about this draw. One, it just isn’t any good in terms of overall field quality. Two, there are four Asian players in the bracket, with two (Yibing Wu and Ze Zhang) having to face each other right off the bat and the winner to meet another one (Chung) later in the week. Assuming the South Korean passes that test, he could run into either Gael Monfils or Bernard Tomic in the quarters before possibly colliding with Adrian Mannarino, Joao Sousa, or Marcos Baghdatis in the semis. Monfils began his Asian swing with a Challenger title in Kaohsiung on Sunday.

A softer top half of the draw could see fellow Italians and recent St. Petersburg doubles champions Fognini and Matteo Berrettini square off in the quarterfinals. Nikoloz Basilashvili is the only player in particularly stellar form at the moment, but the Georgian will likely have a tough opener on his hands in the form of either Sam Querrey or Guido Pella. Expect the top-half semifinal to pit either Fognini or Berrettini against either Basilashvili, Querrey, or Pella.

First-round upset alert: Mikhail Kukushkin over (8) Tennys Sandgren. This would be an upset only according to ranking and seed. Kukushkin dominated their only previous encounter 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 at the 2017 French Open on a surface that favors Sandgren. The Kazak recently advanced to the last 32 at the U.S. Open and has won his opening match in five consecutive tournaments. Sandgren, on the other hand, is 2-6 in his last eight matches.

Hot: Fabio Fognini, Nikoloz Basilashvili, Joao Sousa, Radu Albot, Matteo Berrettini

Cold: Hyeon Chung, Gael Monfils, Tennys Sandgren, Mischa Zverev

Semifinal predictions: Nikoloz Basilashvili over Matteo Berrettini and Joao Sousa over Hyeon Chung

Final: Basilashvili over Sousa

[polldaddy poll=10114641]