Little raccoons who don’t raccoon around.

Big match ahead with two players who are very strong mentally; whoever takes the lead will lose.

For once Borges didn’t waste time in his early rounds in Hong Kong, the Portuguese basically played his tournament before logically losing to Rublev, the kind of player he hates because everything goes so fast. A good first week, I don’t feel like laying him at first glance. Same thing for Etcheverry, who supposedly had an ankle injury but in the end it was nothing at all; he also played his tournament and lost to a stronger opponent in a really tricky match‑up. I don’t feel like laying him either; from what I saw, the serve +1 was working well and I didn’t feel he was lacking punch either. So I’m expecting a high‑level first round between two players who are ready to die on court. It’ll be their first meeting, I don’t see a big edge for either one, they’ll battle from the baseline and pile up long rallies. The servers will make the effort to dictate with the forehand and not be passive, but they both defend well so the ball will keep coming back. If I have to give a slight edge, it would be to Borges because his flat shots aren’t easy to attack and if there’s a bit of wind I think he’d adjust better than Etcheverry with his big backswings. Borges is also defending last year’s semi‑final, it’s a small thing but that extra motivation could make the difference? I’m really nitpicking because otherwise, overall, it’s a match I find very hard to predict.