China Open
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Vasek Pospisil: Djokovic is four for four in Beijing titles and he improved to 20-0 lifetime at the event with a blowout of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Tuesday. Djokovic in 2.
(8) John Isner vs. Tommy Robredo: Robredo is coming off a grueling three-set loss to Andy Murray in the Shenzhen final and he also needed three to get past Andreas Seppi on Tuesday. Isner in 3.
(WC) Viktor Troicki vs. (3) Tomas Berdych: Troicki’s comeback is reaching impressive heights at the ATP level, but Berdych is his most daunting opponent yet (yes, more daunting than David Ferrer right now). Berdych in 3.
Pablo Andujar vs. (5) Grigor Dimitrov: Anujar would likely make this competitive on clay, but it should be one-way traffic on the hard stuff. Dimitrov in 2.
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Rakuten Japan Open
Steve Johnson vs. Marcel Granollers: This is an easier proposition for Johnson than Ferrer would have been, but Granollers is another tough Spaniard. He may have too much variety for Johnson’s ball-bashing. Granollers in 3.
(4) Kei Nishikori vs. Ivan Dodig: Nishikori won the Tokyo title in 2012. He is coming off a long week in Kuala Lumpur (title), but he did not have to work overly hard. Nishikori in 2.
Gilles Simon vs. Gilles Muller: Simon was a warrior in saving five match points to force a third set against Roberto Bautista Agut. He then got an energy-saving break when the Spaniard retired. Simon in 3.
(WC) Tatsuma Ito vs. Benjamin Becker: How will Ito follow up the biggest win of his career over Stan Wawrinka? It will be tough, especially with pressure of playing a match that his home country will now expect him to win. Becker in 3.
Andrey Golubev vs. Jack Sock: As rusty–and downright bad–as Alexandr Dolgopolov was on Monday, Sock was outstanding. The American has also been far better than Golubev at the ATP level in 2014. Sock in 2.
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Simon runs hot and cold but at his best would beat Muller at his best… Muller has a good chance of beating him this time as Simon is way off his best form.
it’s a bad matchup for Muller, however.
but he definitely has a chance, as you say