Rinky Hijikata vs Roman Safiullin Prediction Shanghai Rolex Masters - Shanghai · Oct 7, 2026

Analysis

Roman Safiullin arrives in far sharper match rhythm: he won on 5 and 6 October by 2-0, and before that beat Flavio Cobolli twice by 2-0 on 30 September and 1 October, with his only recent loss a competitive 1-2 against Andrey Rublev on 3 October. That run means he is already acclimatised to the Shanghai conditions, which matters in the humid, heavy-air environment of this outdoor hard-court event, and his flat, first-strike ball-striking is well suited to a surface that rewards free points on serve. Rinky Hijikata has been more stop-start: a 2-0 win over Dalibor Svrcina on 24 September was followed immediately by a 0-2 loss to Rublev on 25 September, and in late August he was beaten 3-1 twice in best-of-five by Felix Auger-Aliassime after edging Raphael Collignon 2-1. Hijikata is a scrappy, high-energy competitor who returns well and makes opponents play one extra ball, so he is capable of dragging this into a decider if he can get Safiullin into longer rallies. Overall the form and acclimatisation edge belongs to Safiullin, but the margin is small for a first-round meeting between two players of broadly similar level, so a three-set match is close to a coin flip.