Tunisian player, Malek Jaziri, will play Nikoloz Basilashvili from Georgia in the quarterfinals of the 2018 ATP China Open in Beijing.
Nikoloz Basilashvili beat Fernando Verdasco in his last match to earn himself a spot in this match. In that win, Nikoloz Basilashvili received serve exceptionally well as he broke his opponents serve on 3 occasions. Nikoloz Basilashvili is normally known as a very powerful server but his service games were not noteworthy as the Georgian hit 4 double faults and had a first serve percentage of only 65%. Considering Nikoloz Basilashvili is playing an exceptional receiver in Malek Jaziri, he will need to improve his serving and hit significantly fewer faults and double faults.
On the other side of the coin, Malek Jaziri has looked in exceptional form this tournament. Malek Jaziri defeated world number 5, Alexander Zverev in the round of 16 and that victory will have given the player a huge boost in confidence. The win was the result of a very impressive performance by Malek Jaziri as he dominated the third set by winning important points and not allowing Zverev to break his serve. It has been a very good few weeks for Malek Jaziri as he had a very strong ATP Chengdu Open where he finished in the top 8. Considering the good form that Malek Jaziri has shown leading up to this match, it will be very hard to defeat the Tunisian.
This will be the first time that Nikoloz Basilashvili and Malek Jaziri will play each other at an ATP tournament.
All in all, I am going to pick Malek Jaziri to win this match. Malek Jaziri is playing exceptional tennis and with Nikoloz Basilashvili having issues with his serve accuracy, the Tunisian superstar has the perfect skills to capitalize. Looking at all the information, I see Malek Jaziri making the semifinals of the tournament.
