Just enough to hold on?

Alcaraz seems too strong for Rublev in the long run, but the format could go in the Russian's favor.

I remember their meeting at Wimbledon a few weeks ago very well, Rublev took advantage of a bad start from Alcaraz to gain confidence and snatch the first set. Then Carlito stepped up and we felt a real difference in level between the two and it was already over I want to say. I'm exaggerating a bit but it's just to say that a good Alcaraz is just better than Rublev. But the Spaniard has some consistency issues in his matches, he tries a lot and gives a lot. It's a little less extreme this week I think, there's not a huge hole in one of his first rounds but still. He lost a big set against Dzumhur and yesterday he was down 4/2 against Nardi in the second, I wonder if with a Rublev in rather good form and good at this tournament he can have his moment. The Russian is playing really well again and obviously in outsider mode without pressure it's more tempting to back him, we especially don't want to go after him when he's low and he feels all the pressure in the world on him. Right now he likes fast conditions, he got his revenge on Tien, he won a Homeric match against Popyrin and has just destroyed Comesana, the kind of tournament that will do him a lot of good mentally. He gives himself the right to go and face Alcaraz and seeing as he's getting stronger we can believe it a little, right?