Roman Safiullin vs Juncheng Shang Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Chengdu Open

Prediction published on 19/09/2024, 10:18  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 19/09/2024 at 10:42 in Tennis Predictions

A place in the quarter-finals of the hard court ATP Chengdu Open awaits the winner of this match. Eighth seed Roman Safiullin is up against unseeded Juncheng Shang. Will we see a seeding upset? Here's our match prediction.

Roman Safiullin was ranked 56th in the latest list and that's 11 places higher than his opponent. However, in the live rankings it is Shang who now possesses the higher ranking.

Safiullin reached the semi-finals here last year and is defending those points. That means in the live rankings, the Russian is down to 68th, five places below Shang. Safiullin has dropped down the rankings in 2024 after beginning it in 36th place.

Last month saw him win the Challenger Tour held in Cary and that was played on this surface. On the ATP Tour though, he hasn't won two successive matches in a hard court tournament since January.

Round one of this tournament saw him beat unseeded Fabio Fognini. It took him three sets to get the win after dropping the middle one to the Italian. 

Juncheng Shang has set a new career-high this week. His 63rd place in the live rankings beats his previous best of 66th set earlier this month. The 19-year-old is playing his first tournament since reaching the last 32 of the US Open.

That built on his previous good hard court form. July saw him get to the last four in Atlanta and that included a win over Ben Shelton. That was his second ATP Tour hard court semi-final of the year after also getting that far in Hong kong.

So far this week, Shang has beaten wild card Kei Nishikori in straight sets. We tip him to beat Safiullin.