Rublev ends up fanny?

No victory for the Russian despite a good level of play, he is tense and cannot completely let go and is getting through his Masters for the moment..

Match conditions : central court, fast indoor hard, 9 p.m.

H2H : 5/3 Zverev but 3/1 over the last five confrontations for Rublev, things are turning. A final confrontation won by the Russian in fairly similar conditions in Vienna just a few days ago.

State of form : Both finished the season well and even if Rublev made a stronger impression in the very last tournaments, it is he who is 0/2 in this group.

Comfort in the tournament: You have the stats available to have the details of their matches in this tournament so I prefer to talk about this year. Rublev is very tense and gets too frustrated, his two matches are similar with a big first set then he breaks down too quickly behind, nothing to bring him down when we know his resilience on the court. Zverev comes close to taking the first set against Medvedev and can blame himself, in the game it's very good especially in the service where he is imperial in this kind of condition.

Strengths weaknesses : Zverev's quality of service on indoor hard courts is monumental, when he gains confidence on the first ball he generally makes a lot fewer double faults and so it's all to the benefit! Sometimes too passive in the exchange or crumbly in hot moments like his horrible forehand on set point in the last match. Rublev is Mr Cadence, his striking quality is no longer to be presented but we need a little more against the top players, in the head he is too limited for this type of event it seems..

Match up: Not bad for Rublev once the rally starts, he will have the game in hand and will be able to dictate with his powerful shots, not necessarily bad for Zverev who also likes to leave the game to his opponents. If Rublev attacks well on the second ball and the first passes a little less for Zverev tomorrow there is possibly a move to play for the Russian. He beat him in similar conditions in Vienna but this time his back is against the wall and will have a little more pressure..

Personal opinion : Zverev impresses me at the start of the Masters and I have the impression that he is going to be really hard to beat this week, not sure that Rublev is capable of it given what he showed in the first two matches

Paris to try : Victory Zverev, over set