Wait... Is Elias "The Real Deal"?

Because he just absolutely smashed Fearnley as a big underdog...

Elias delivered a great performance. Fearnley was completely out of it... he was serving up double faults like Coco Gauff and had problems with his eyes (got eyedrops later on). So yes, Elias got a lot of help here... but I want to acknowledge that he is also playing well, he is playing with a lot of aggression, swinging freely. It makes sense; he doesn't have any pressure in these matches, despite being a local here. I mentioned it earlier, but he is comfortable on these courts; it really shows. When his serve and forehand are firing like this (and not missing much), combined with his athleticism... he is actually not easy to beat. He reminds me of a lucky loser on a good run in a tournament. Anyway, next up for him is Shapovalov, who already faced a Swede in the first round - Borg. I didn't love that he dropped a set to Borgs, but I still found him decent. I think the conditions here are sneaky good for him, especially against "lesser" opponents... because his serve and shots can penetrate and hit winners, and he can be a lot more effective on return against their weaker serve. As I mentioned earlier, Ymer has looked extremely impressive in his matches, but Mikael was not fi,t and Fearnley was not competitive with his issues as well - it will be a lot harder to play with this kind of aggression against Shapovalov, unless he is sick as well 😂 I will cut Shapovalov some slack, it was his first round against a fired up Borgs who was fighting extremely hard. Elias mentioned that he and Shapovalov are good friends (it's harder to have dominant scorelines against friends?), and the fact that Ymer is in the zone and they'll be playing on a Friday night in Stockholm makes me like his chances a lot more. Let's have a look at the odds, if it's worth taking the chance once more on Ymer in a potential trap-spot...