16. McMeghan vs. 8. John W - I'm never really sure where McMeghan stands in ORAS or SM, so it's hard to guess whether he'll use something reasonably standard or go crazy. I expected Finch to prevail in R1 solely on experience in both those tiers, but despite McMeghan bringing the ugliest team (aesthetically) I've ever seen in SM, he outplayed in both and won handily. I've played John W several times in regular Smogon Tours (albeit only in SM) throughout the last two years or so, and while he's definitely decent, he seems like one of those guys who cant pull upsets and just wont beat a player who's a tier or two above him. He didn't make any huge errors in R1, but I think his opponent beat himself there through questionable team and moveset choices. His own team choices were reasonably predictable as well, and especially in BW he will have to change it up or else McMeghan will just feed on his inexperience and outplay turn after turn. I'm still not entirely sold on McMeghan outside of BW, but John W seems like a lesser Finch in all three tiers, and McMeghan showed his class in that series, so I'd be extremely surprised if this turns out any different.
2. ABR vs. 7. Lopunny Kicks - I had hopes that xray would make the R1 series closer, but ABR still won handily despite xray having outs in both games, but not finding them. The best player left in at least 2/3 tiers, and a clear top 2 player left in the pool at this point. I agree with CTC that there are players and playstyles that can punish him, but if xray didn't then I doubt Lopunny Kicks will either. A lot will probably come down to what Lopunny Kicks shows up with in SM and ORAS, as he's been quite predictable in the past, but being italian he (probably) has a lot of support in those tiers. ABR is the clear favorite in BW, as his teams are usually good, while italians have a history of bringing known relics in BW (as well as in DPP and ADV, take note for World Cup). He's the obvious favorite to me in ORAS as well with the dominance he's showed throughout the years in that tier. Lopunny Kicks has shown he can play several times before, and he won his R1 games without much trouble, despite using the same team in both gens. I wouldn't be that shocked if we saw an upset here, especially if he dares to step out of the comfort zone, but ABR is still my favorite to win here, as well as the entire tour.
3. SoulWind vs. 6. Pohjis - Pohjis will show up with teams from SPL8 and SoulWind swiftly wins 2-0 without effort.
4. Quaze vs. 5. FMG - The hardest series to predict for me since I don't know really that much about either player. Both players did surprise me by advancing to R2, as I had both Malekith and Empo as dark horses to win the entire tour. However, while FMG got here on Empo's errors, Quaze won deservedly even without his best tier. This makes me want to bold Quaze already, but from what I've gathered his team support is also italian, which is very hit or miss. FMG had some issues in R1, and was outplayed at several points vs Empo, but he's had some great tournaments in the past so it would be silly to count him out. I do think FMG has access to better teams of the two, but I'm uncertain if he's choosing to use them, as shown by bringing known teams against Empo. FMG has more experience in high pressure situations as well, but Quaze seems unfazed by this regardless. As I said before, this is hard for me to predict, but I'll give it to Quaze based on the R1 performances even if it may seem like Team Europe bias.