We’re in for a tasty treat in the Shenzhen Longhua Open Challenger semifinals. Mohamed Safwat has suddenly found his best form and will search hfo is first final of the year. In-form players Zhizhen Zhang and Federico Ferreira Silva will battle each other for another spot in the championship match. Who should be considered the favorite to prevail?
Shenzhen Challenger Semifinal Predictions
Mohamed Safwat vs Zhe Li
Head-to-head: first meeting
After a very good finish to the European Challenger clay court season, Mohamed Safwat traveled to Asia. His Ningbo and Liuzhou campaigns ended in disasters as the Egyptian took just eight games combined in two opening-round losses. Safwat recovered nicely, pulling off a huge upset here in Shenzhen. In the third round, he took down world no. 87 Soon-Woo Kwon. A win over his Ningbo conqueror, Denis Yevseyev, gave him the ticket to his third Challenger semifinal of the season.
His rival, 33-year-old Zhe Li, has followed a different path. Li has been touring China for the past two months but with relatively no success, either on the main tour or on the ATP Challenger Tour. He was on the brink of defeat against Roman Safiullin in the quarterfinals, surging back from a double break deficit in the deciding set.
Li will look to dominate the points and take the ball early but he might struggle to do so against Safwat. The Egyptian has a very solid game and will get a lot of balls back. Expect him to prevail and reach his third Challenger Tour final.
Prediction: Safwat in 3
Federico Ferreira Silva vs Zhizhen Zhang
Head-to-head: first meeting
No one has been as impressive as Zhizhen Zhang so far. The Chinese gave just one game to Goncalo Olivera and took down Borna Gojo via second set retirement. In the quarterfinals, he put up another clean performance, defeating the fourth seed Go Soeda. The 23-year-old has recently defeated Kyle Edmund and Dominik Koepfer and he’s proving these performances weren’t accidents.
Federico Ferreira Silva has quietly pulled through a very tough section in the draw. Despite being a natural clay court specialist, the Portuguese is having a brilliant hard court swing, having won 15 matches in his past five tournaments combined. Silva defeated three Taiwanese players on the way to the semifinal, including two-time junior Grand Slam champion Chun-Hsin Tseng and the fifth seed Jason Jung.
This time against Chinese Zhizhen Zhang, Ferreira Silva will come into this match with a ton of confidence. However, his opponent is also on a brilliant run and seems to have a couple more tricks up his sleeve. Zhang should be able to build up on his stunning form of late.
Prediction: Zhang in 2
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