Roman Safiullin vs Daniel Evans Prediction: The rivals have about equal chances of success

In the second round of the tennis tournament in Chengdu, China, Roman Safiullin will meet British Daniel Evans, the 27th ranked player in the world. Bookmakers do not see a clear favorite in the pair, believing that the rivals have about equal chances of success.

After a very successful Wimbledon, Safiullin had several unsuccessful hard-court tournaments. In particular, the Russian lost to Harri in three sets in Cincinnati and was weaker than Cherundolo in Winston-Salem. He beat Cecchinato in New York at the U.S. Open but lost to Paul in five games. In the first round of the Chinese tournament, Safiullin confidently, in two games, beat American Nakashima 6:4, 6:4. During the match, Roman served five times with two double faults, won 82% of points on the first serve and 62% on the second.

After a reasonably successful U.S. Open, where Evans reached the third round, beating Galan and Van de Zandschlupp, the Briton played two Davis Cup matches for his national team. Daniel brought two points to the British team, beating De Minaur and Fils in three sets. We note that Evans is in quite an excellent sporting shape.

The good thing about Safiullin is that the Russian has already played one match here, beating Nakashima, i.e., he got game practice on local courts. On the other hand, in the second half of the year, Roman has problems with results on the blue surface, while Evans has played not only the U.S. Open but also Davis Cup matches at a good level. We should also consider that Evans has experience of beating the Russian just on hard court, however, in France. In general, we expect Evans to win the second-round match, but we doubt this victory will be easy; we expect three sets.