New closed match?

They’re not serve-bots but very focused players who are killers on their service games, enough to make you bored...

Finally something good for Halys, who came through qualifying and just beat Popyrin by playing a really solid match with big serving stats. It’s no surprise on this kind of surface, he’s dangerous when he finds his tennis and especially his serve. With something like 73% first serves in and 90% of points won behind it, he was safe against Popyrin. Then on return he does what he can, fights hard and takes plenty of chances whenever he gets the opportunity; once he starts winning rounds and building confidence, you’ve got to be wary of him. This kind of profile is exactly what Nakashima really hates, he has negative stats against big servers/baseline aggressors. But the American has improved; I find him more and more solid in about 90% of the matches he plays. He’s ranked 33 in the world, but in terms of solidity and professionalism I’d place him among the top 20 in the world in my opinion. Against Fokina he got pushed around a bit, but in the end it was his ability to stay clean on serve and strong from the baseline that helped him make the Spaniard crack. For a first meeting I’m not expecting great tennis; if both keep the same serving level as in the first round, there should be very few breaks and very few chances overall. I still trust Nakashima more over the long haul: he’s cleaner on serve (fewer double faults) and in open play he takes fewer risks and gives away fewer free points. Quentin can surprise him by playing aggressive tennis, but the margin is thin to get through like that.