A large hard court draw with byes for the leading seeds shapes almost everything here.

Draw shape matters as much as form. A field this size hands the top seeds an opening bye, so they arrive fresher than opponents who have already played a match, and best of three sets keeps single break contests, tie break counts...

Conditions do much of the work in this part of the Asian hard court swing: humid air, a medium paced surface and matches that usually come down to who holds serve when the pressure arrives.

Indoors the ball travels quickly and the bounce stays predictable, which rewards big serving and first strike tennis.

Round robin play is what makes this different from every other tournament of the year.

The group stage changes the arithmetic. Nobody goes out after one defeat, so a player can lose the opener and still reach the semi finals, and by the last round of group matches the qualification maths can make a match look unlike...

This is the one week where the rules themselves are the story.