Extended match!

Knowing that no one here is going to overwhelm their opponent, can we bet on Hugo having a physical problem? 😜

Oh, come on, Hugo's defenders, I'm from the south, I'm just teasing! Okay, Hugo leads 2-1 in their confrontations, but I can see that his two victories should be put into perspective a little bit. The first was at the 2024 Australian Open, that is to say just before Baena took on a little extra dimension which gave him a great season on clay, and good progress on hard at the end of the season. Hugo's other victory was at Kitbuhel 2024, that is to say quite simply one of his best tournaments of his career, favored by the conditions at altitude. Today, Hugo is going through a difficult patch. He fights as best he can and manages to raise his level of play against Bellucci in the first round of Toronto, before taking a blow against Rublev. While I found Baena better in his form, to the point of annoying our friend Taylor Fritz. The Spaniard is invested again and is back to a good level. Toronto's high bounce was in his favor. Cinci's lower bounce will go a little more in Hugo's favor. On the other hand, I really have the impression here that we can count on a Baena who is consistent in the level he produces, compared to a Hugo whose level fluctuates a lot during a match at the moment. The Frenchman is searching for himself. He lacks confidence. Whereas the Spaniard already has some benchmarks for me thanks to his two good matches in Toronto. Only here, I perhaps haven't told you the essential thing yet: the matchup isn't really for the Spaniard. And finally, I don't put Gaston's two victories into perspective too much because of that. And because I discovered that their first match in Seville lasted 3 hours and 23 minutes and that Baena had to save 3 match points. The two players know each other quite well, and it's well known that Hugo's game bothers the Spaniard. Indeed, the latter needs rhythm and exchanges to settle in. Against Hugo, he doesn't have the same ball twice. Between spin, trajectories, and lengths, Roberto fights as best he can. But the truth is, he's disoriented. At the Australian Open, he tried to play the same game as Hugo, but it didn't work. In Kitzbuhel, he couldn't find any length. The best weapon against Hugo is to take his time by constantly attacking him. That's what Rublev did in Toronto. But Roberto doesn't have the weapons for it, and his topspin isn't taking as long here. So we have a bad matchup for Roberto, but a weird form for Hugo.