Shimabukuro - De Jong

The coefficient has grown insanely. The Japanese player has won 12 out of 18 matches on grass, with the 6 losses mostly against top players. Last year at Shima, he went through the qualifiers and even defeated Kudla 3:0 in the first round, whom De Jong beat in the first qualifying round. He has a good serve and their previous encounter ended with a 1:0 victory for Japan on the ground (with De Jong being better on the court), and a 2:0 win last year (6:2;6:1), with a good return of serve as his first serve winning percentage was only 38%, so he knows how to take his serve. Of course, playing on grass will be 5 times more difficult, but he will enter the match with the knowledge that he has already easily defeated his opponent, so he will be more confident. De Jong's statistics on grass are not great, with only 5 wins out of 13 matches, whereas Sho has more experience and better statistics. The Japanese are honorable people, they try their best and do not give up, so it is safer to play with them. There is a guarantee that they will give their all, as things can be unpredictable with Europeans and Americans.

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