Good duel

198 cm, right-handed, one year and eleven places apart. We'll have to look for the little details to decide between these two champions!

First thing that's a bit shocking is that their last 3 confrontations ended in beatings. When you know their quality of service, on hard work moreover, there must have been something wrong. So let's focus on their state of fitness at time t. On the Z side, I find that he is not necessarily playing his best tennis but mentally he is there. This year, apart from against his bête noire Thompson and Altmaier in Acapulco, he enforced his ranking. I'm not sure Miami is the perfect conditions for him but he's already made a final there and is going to be difficult to beat given the mental toughness he showed in his first 2 rounds. Against Félix, there was even the manner: the guy simply won 36 of his 38 points on serve. Untouchable. And like I said, he was very strong in the lead against Eubanks as he took lightning in the first set. When he's like that, we know he can still raise his level of play in big events. Eubanks' hyper-aggressiveness certainly hampered him, but he managed to find a solution, and Khachanov will never be that aggressive. The Russian is aggressive from the baseline. There is no doubt that he will arrive feeling the ball extremely well given the match he has just had against Cerundolo, but he could also have left some feathers. If, for example, Zverev were to win the first set 7/6, it could become really complicated for the Russian. Especially since he did not show good return quality against Cerundolo, and the Z service is in place. Which leaves him very little room to maneuver when you think about it. Now let's see what the odds say, but I'm quite pessimistic...