The best opening-round match in Hangzhou is a straight rematch. Yunchaokete Bu and Michael Zheng met in the US Open second round earlier this month, and Zheng won it 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 over four sets in New York.
Best-of-three changes the calculation. Bu's four-set loss included a dominant second set, and over a shorter format that kind of burst matters more. He also plays this one at home, in front of a Chinese crowd, in conditions he knows far better than his opponent does.
Zheng is the better player right now. The 22-year-old American sits at No. 88 after a season in which he qualified for the first three Grand Slams before taking a US Open wild card, and the former Columbia standout has stopped looking like a prospect and started looking like a tour regular. His ball-striking is cleaner off both wings and he served well enough in New York to control the crucial games.
The reward for winning is brutal. Whoever advances lands in a section containing Quentin Halys, Roman Safiullin, Mattia Bellucci and Kamil Majchrzak, comfortably the toughest cluster in the bracket.
Zheng in three. Expect a much tighter match than the New York scoreline.