David and Goliath

Two men at the top of their game here, and a really cool clash of styles like we don’t see much anymore!

It’s simple: both players impressed me. Corentin completely stifled Shevchenko’s fire with his tennis IQ. And Struffy is playing his hyper-aggressive tennis to perfection, to the point of knocking out the defending champion. Which profile is going to prevail, given they’re both in form? In medium/fast indoor conditions, my instinct would be to say it’s likely to be tough for Corentin. If I had to make a comparison, it would be with Moutet’s matches against Griekspoor. I have that grass-court match from this year in mind, like: “okay, this is too fast, he has no solutions.” Power on its own, fine, he can manage, but paired with constant net rushes, it gets trickier. Not to mention that targeting his backhand (and sometimes the open angle when he’s overanticipating it) is becoming pretty well known among players. Shevy didn’t do it enough, by the way. I think Corentin has improved that part too, but Struffy is going to hammer it relentlessly...