Daniil Medvedev is the top seed at the Hangzhou Open and the draw handed him the cleanest route of any leading player. The world No. 6 receives a first round bye and then meets either Valentin Royer or Adam Walton, neither of whom has the hard court resume to trouble him at full level.
The rest of his section is similarly manageable. Zhizhen Zhang has struggled for wins even at Challenger level this season and faces Coleman Wong, who is the more dangerous of the two when his serve and forehand combination clicks. Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, the fifth seed, opens against Jie Cui in the other opening round match in that quarter.
Compare that with the section directly beneath fourth seed Quentin Halys, which contains Roman Safiullin, Mattia Bellucci, Kamil Majchrzak and the winner of Yunchaokete Bu against Michael Zheng. Whoever reaches the quarterfinals from there will have played three real matches.
Andrey Rublev's quarter is deeper than it looks, with Rinky Hijikata, Jaime Faria and Terence Atmane all capable of a week.
Medvedev to the last eight is the safest call on the board. Beyond that, this draw is volatile.
**Prediction: Medvedev reaches the quarterfinals. Confidence: high.**