Day 2 of the Shenzhen Longhua Open Challenger will feature some of the top seeds in action. Jason Jung takes on Bruno Santanna and in a blockbuster clash of the day, top 100 player Kwon-Soon Woo will face Duck-Hee Lee. Who do you think will prevail?
Shenzhen Challenger Day 2 Predictions
Chun-Hsin Tseng vs Di Wu
Head-to-head: First meeting
2018 Roland Garros and Wimbledon juniors champion, Chun-Hsin Tseng, has had a mediocre season trying to kick off his professional career. The Taiwanese made one ATP Challenger final in Prague, losing to Mario Vilella Martinez. Last week, he has announced a very surprising coaching partnership, teaming up with former world no.12 and French Open semifinalist Dominik Hrbaty.
On the other side of the net will be one of the best Chinese players, Di Wu. Following a Challenger final in his hometown, Shanghai, Wu took advantage of a couple of wild cards and tried to make some impact on the ATP Asian Swing. The quality of the opposition faced was a little too much for the Chinese but he managed to give a great showing against Pablo Carreno Busta, taking the Spaniard to a couple of tie-breaks. Wu has years of experience in the second tier of the men’s tennis competition and should take advantage of Tseng’s still very raw game. Coaching from Dominik Hrbaty can only help the Taiwanese to improve but it’s way too early for huge changes. Tseng’s serve is a major flaw in his game and unless he fixes it, players like Di Wu should be out of his range.
Prediction: Wu in 2
Ivan Nedelko vs Mohamed Safwat
Head-to-head: Safwat 3-0
The Prince of Uganda lives to see another day. Ivan Nedelko, who retired last week after just 45 minutes of play in his opening match, defeated Sadio Doumbia easily in the first round. However, the rise in the level of competition will be steep as next up is fifteenth seed Mohamed Safwat. The Egyptian had a very good finish to European Challenger clay court season but has so far failed at repeating that in Asia. In the past two weeks he won just eight games combined against Denis Yevseyev and Yuta Shimizu.
They played each other three times in a series of Egyptian Futures back in 2013. Safwat won all three matches and should be expected to do the same here. Nedelko plays very physical, a little “brainless” tennis and the Egyptian’s finesse and point constructing ability will be the key here. Expect Safwat to slowly find his groove back.
Prediction: Safwat in 3
Jason Jung vs Bruno Santanna
Head-to-head: First meeting
Bruno Santanna has advanced to the second round with a comfortable defeat of Xin Gao. However, this win shouldn’t be given much value as Gao is currently riding a seven match losing streak in singles. Santanna had a couple of great ITF results on clay lately but playing Jason Jung on an Asian hardcourt will be a different challenge.
The Taiwanese has been in the ATP top 150 for almost two years and is an example of a player who excels at the Challenger Tour but is unable to progress to the top levels of the game. The fifth seed to pounce against a relatively unexperienced (at this level) opponent.
Prediction: Jung in 2
Soon-Woo Kwon vs Duck-Hee-Lee
Head-to-head: Kwon 3-1
Not an easy draw for the top seed. Duck-Hee Lee has been out of the game due to injury for the last two months but when he’s in-form, the deaf Korean is one of the players with the highest potential in the draw. Lee is playing his second tournament after a break and has comfortably beaten Kaichi Uchida in the opening round.
Soon-Woo Kwon has had his best career season, debuting in the ATP Top 100. He has recently scored wins over Richard Gasquet and Lucas Pouille and combined with the match rhythm advantage, expect him to be up to the challenge. The top seed gave just one game to Lee in Yokohama this year and should prevail again.
Prediction: Kwon in 2
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Disagree with our Shenzhen Challenger Day 2 Predictions? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
