The Right Man for the Job?

Beating Mpetshi Perricard is certainly no "small" task...

We know the deal by now. Mpetshi Perricard is invisible in return games while being able to hold his own serve. Tiebreak comes, he steps up and clutches it. Frustration builds for the other player, sometimes leading to a poor service game in the upcoming set. Mpetshi had his first two-setter of the year yesterday against Bautista-Agut. However, he did look more vulnerable on serve than he did in Auckland, which makes sense... the conditions are slower, and there is no "partial roof", like there was in Brisbane. RBA was, quite frankly, not the right player to take advantage of it, especially not having played for a long time. Could Norrie stand a better chance? While he had a disappointing loss to Kovacevic in Brisbane, there were no lingering effects on display in his first-round match against Gaston. Dominant on serve and dictating the entire match against a tricky opponent - not even offering a breakpoint!

Now, GMP is quite clearly a very different profile for him to face ;) While he won't get the chance to dictate in as many rallies... I was encouraged by what I saw from him in the opening round, especially his serving! Norrie can struggle against attacking players in faster conditions, but against a pure Big Server without a baseline game, his stats are rather good. He will also have "home court", which sounds nice at first; however, it also brings "pressure to perform", especially in a matchup like this, where a single mistake can be the difference between winning and losing. As for GMP, we can never count him out of a match, and credit to him for starting 2025 in a clutch fashion in conditions that are good for him - especially taking advantage of baseliner opponents that lack rhythm. Finally, I'd like to note that GMP has a great record against left-handers (a bit strange, with his backhand?)... he is 7-0 against them at the main tour ATP level and 15-1 in recent matches if you include some Challengers.