Tien tien tien..

Not the best draw for Blanchet but Tien isn't as scary as other good players..

This is exactly where you really shouldn’t underestimate Tien: the American isn’t a big server, he’s not powerful, but he’s so strong everywhere else. The more we watch him this season, the more we see how talented he is with his tools. He also picks his tournaments well with smart scheduling—he’s clever across the board. After a well-deserved break given his Asian swing, he came back just for Paris, and even with only two matches I really liked what he showed. We especially saw against Borges that when you don’t have the power to hit through him, he’s extremely hard to beat. Rublev managed to find solutions afterward, but it took at least that—and then some. That’s my number one concern for Blanchet tomorrow: the Frenchman has qualities, but raw power isn’t really one of them. I prefer him in a counterpunching role, and that won’t really be the match dynamic here. In these fairly slow conditions, he’ll have to work very hard to do damage against a mobile, intelligent Tien. I rate the American highly, and even though I like Blanchet too, I don’t really see how he gets out of this tomorrow. With the help of the crowd and a less inspired Tien than usual?