Gaston LOCKED IN

The Frenchman is very focused in this last tournament; like his first round, he seems particularly good at the moment and ready to make a big move?

It’s always hard to anticipate Gaston’s level of motivation—he’s often unpredictable and it almost entirely depends on him. He wants to get back into the top 100 and, if I’m not mistaken, that should be done with no risk of dropping out by the end of the week. However, he’s going to stop playing and there’s a great opportunity this week since he’s playing well and the top half of the draw has opened up with the various withdrawals. So we’ve got a Gaston in form, motivated, and with no pressure on him—perfect. On the other side, Altmaier is in a somewhat similar situation: no particular goal, but he’s engaged this week and wants to have a good tournament riding the momentum from his week in Paris. He’s a hell of a player when he’s properly focused, and since that’s the case right now, we’re likely to get a big match tomorrow. Edge to Gaston in terms of the match-up: Altmaier doesn’t have good stats against this type of profile; he’s better against big servers/aggressive players. When he has to do too much of the playmaking, he can blow up and start forcing it, which is ideal for Gaston. That said, we’re seeing the best version of Altmaier and he looks fresh, so I expect strong resistance from him, and as we know he’s insanely talented with a good serve when he’s feeling it. He’s not bad on offense, but when the ball keeps coming back and he has to force it, that’s where his limit is exposed. I see Gaston as a good profile to make that happen, and I’m going to look for a bet that goes in that direction!