Thursday's Phan Thiet 4 (Vietnam) round of 16 pits Blake Ellis against Ilia Simakin on hard. Ilia Simakin is rolling — 5 straight wins, 9 of 10 in recent play. Blake Ellis has won 4 of the last 10.
There's a wide gap in our ratings on hard, and our number follows from it. Ellis comes in off a compressed schedule. Simakin should have enough here, though Ellis has the tools to make the scoreboard uncomfortable.