Saturday's Bloomfield Hills semifinal pits Jacob Fearnley against Michael Zheng on hard. Michael Zheng brings a 3-match winning streak into this one, 5-5 across the last ten. Jacob Fearnley is rolling — 8 straight wins, 9 of 10 in recent play.
The two have never played — a first meeting always adds a layer of uncertainty the numbers can't fully capture.
The underlying stats are tight across the board — this is a matchup decided by a handful of points. Fearnley comes in off a compressed schedule; Zheng comes in off a compressed schedule. Little separates them; Zheng gets the nod on the finest of margins.