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So far, the defending champion shows a level of performance not enough to win the title again

After two much weaker opponents, Kamkea faces a first real challenge in the quarterfinals. Berankis has what it takes to play indoors, having lost only one service here and posing as a big threat

Although Berankis spent most of the year outside Top 100 it is interesting that the Lithuanian needed such a long time to decide to enter a challenger. One of the reasons is definitely a lack of ATPs, as it is obvious he insists on them and considers himself a part of that category. Looking at the talent, he definitely deserves that but there are many other segments which prevent him to make a final step forward.

Nevertheless, this tournament could help him prove to himself that he has grown out of this competition and give him a chance to score points needed to get back to Top 100. He set out to reach that goal successfully, although some faults can still be detected. He played the first match without mistakes and it was obvious Mertens was no match for him, having trouble with adapting as well. But the second challenge was much harder as it was the young talented player who likes fast surfaces that faced him - Hungarian Fucsovics.

He started the match without any scruples and immediately reached a break advantage keeping it until set point. But then he starts to break under pressure which Berankis uses to his advantage and scores the first set through tiebreak. The first part obviously played an important role psychologically, seeing  that in the rest of the match the performance of the Lithuanian was much better while Fucsovics faltered. The result was one break by Berankis which was quite enough because he did not allow a single break opportunity ever since his first service game. Other important statistics are his eight scored aces and a somewhat poorer service for the Hungarian who managed to hit only 44% of his first service and made seven double faults.

In the next round, the Lithuanian will face an even tougher opponent and a first real test of his abilities. It is the defending champion Kamke, talented but unpredictable. Firstly, it should be pointed out that the German made his last year success on open concrete which suits him better while this year's tournament moved to indoors.

It can be seen from his first two appearances that he did not get his bearings in the indoors yet, although he had two strong wins. The opponents were no match to him, especially in the first round where he faced Lestienne who was playing his second challenger appearance in his career. But the Frenchman scored a break two times while in the next round Dustov again pointed out some problems in the German's play.

The first set was very even and stable service-wise so both of them scored only seven points on the return. Kamke managed to score a break out of his strokes while the Uzbek did not seize his two break points.  Second set followed an almost identical path and it seemed the German will reach a routine win but then everything turned around. After the 5-3 lead by Kamke, Dustov scores four consecutive games and deservedly evens out the situation in the court. But Uzbek's happiness was short-lived. At the start of the last set he started having back problems. At 1-0 he sought medical attention but that didn't help much so after four lost games in a row he decided to retire.

The final impression is that the title defender wasn't at his best again and the question remains whether he would win if the Uzbek wasn't injured. Another question is whether his performance to this point will help him against Berankis who is definitely a better and tougher opponent than the last two. They met twice so far, each time on open concrete, with both of them scoring one win.

Kamke hasn't really impressed me at all and I expect that his attempt to defend the title will come to an end today. In the first round he had an inexperienced Challenger level opponent who was not up to the mark, and he still managed to lose his serve twice. Yesterday he almost gambled away an already won match against Dustov, which could have ended differently if the Uzbek hadn't injured himself. That level of tennis will not do him any good today against an inform Berankis who can play even better in such indoor conditions than he has been playing lately. The Lithuanian has lost his serve only once in the last two matches, while facing even tougher opponents. I would put a lower amount on this match only because Berankis is not too reliable and Kamke won his last match, but it was played on outdoor hard so I wouldn't read too much into it.