Could This Be Giron's Week?

Finally, a win against fellow Californian, Nakashima...

Yes, I really liked this win for Marcos! Nakashima was serving lights out (as usual), 14 aces and 0 DFs with an excellent 9.1 Serve Rating. Giron was in trouble in the first set, twice facing 15-40 on his own serve. However, he managed to hold in both games, and as the match went on, he managed to be the better player from the baseline, far more aggressive. While it's hard to make inroads on Nakashima's first serve (he also had 77% first serves in), he was effective returning the few second serves he got. After winning the first set tiebreak, he got an early break in the second set against a Nakashima that was fading physically after a lot of tough rallies (combined with it being the end of the season). Hanfmann looked on his way to a routine straight sets win against an underpowered Kopriva; however, it got a bit trickier. He dropped the second set and had a huge battle in the decider against an inspired Kopriva. However, Hanfmann managed to snatch the match late in the decider. Giron mentioned how he is enjoying the atmosphere and conditions here (as many other players, props to the tournament). However, let's not forget that Hanfmann has been in great form for a long time now, basically since the Asian Swing... his game is dangerous in fast conditions. As for the matchup, I want to give a slight advantage to Giron. Hanfmann is serving really well, but I like his returning and baseline level less than Giron's at the moment. Marcos is also the better mover, and if he can impose his game similarly to how he did against Nakashima, he could exploit Hanfmann's weaker movement! Well, that's what I like for Giron... It's not all "doom and gloom" for Hanfmann, though. His floor level can vary quite much, but he has a high ceiling as well (due to his big weapons). We have seen good matches against elite opposition, even against players such as Sinner and Alcaraz. He has good stats as an underdog because he can impact the match on his own, not relying on errors from the opponent. Combine this with the fact that Giron tends to be slightly unreliable as a favorite...