Another lefty for Tien

After Moutet, it's Norrie waiting for him—a second tough match to navigate against a scrappy player, but it's in his wheelhouse, right?

What a comeback from Tien against Moutet—the American didn’t give up at all, and Coco helped him believe too. Physically, we didn’t expect him to hold up either given the run he’s facing. But when a player is confident, he’s often able to last a long time despite the fatigue; we’ve already seen that with Tabilo recently, or simply with Tien at the start of the year at the Australian Open, where everyone thought he was cooked and he kept hanging on. I don’t see the fade from a fitness standpoint tomorrow for that reason, and he’s 19—it’s easier to back up matches, especially with his profile. I’m almost more worried about Norrie given how the Brit basically tossed the second set against Cazaux to save energy. He’s constantly up against it, trying to recover between points, but mentally he’s strong; he doesn’t give an inch and finds a bit more when he has to. I liked his level against Cazaux, but his physical drop-off scares me too much in these conditions—if someone’s going to crack on that front tomorrow, it should be Norrie. The match-up between two lefties is pretty tricky, by the way; it’s 1–1 in head-to-heads this season, and I don’t think there’s an obvious heavy favorite here. I’d just say that with his game, Tien seems a bit more likely to inspire confidence, but that’s just my personal opinion. I’ll tread carefully in this tricky match.