Who will stop Royer?

It took a very focused Bublik in the Hangzhou final to get the better of Valentin. Does Navone have what it takes?

Well, nothing is certain. I thought the Argentinian would improve more on hard this season given the effort he put into adapting his game to the surface, but not at all. His matches are often tight because he plays well in phases. He steps into the ball, is super aggressive, and then all of a sudden, when he's leading and you think that if he keeps playing like that he'll win in two quick sets, he completely falls apart?! The whole Tennis Metrics team watched his match against Giron at the US Open, and there we saw his true face. The match against Val, given Val's level and especially his consistency in competitiveness, is going to be difficult if his level goes up and down. And that might not be a bad thing for him because he'll be a good underdog, a position he loves, and he'll have a better chance of hanging on from start to finish. It's in that situation that he produces his best matches. So I imagine a potentially numerically close match, with a victory for Val who remains the better player. And if it goes to 3, or if Navone leads by a break in a set, I think there's a good chance he'll get caught. I'll repeat — if you missed Val's matches, he's really good. The guy beats Rublev fairly, for example. He's lost his complex against the big fish, and this could end up spectacular!