The devil

Seyboth is all or nothing: he can have a detestable attitude but play incredible tennis. You either like him or you don’t, but he never leaves you indifferent.

So Seyboth is a lucky loser after a near-brawl in the first round of qualies, then a loss to Pellegrino where he was physically worn out. With a full day of rest and a second chance, I think there’s a good chance we’ll see him in better shape, but his level of play still isn’t there yet. His results this season haven’t been great, and for a clay-court player he still has this bad habit of racking up unforced errors when things aren’t going his way.

Barrios isn’t that different a clay-courter; he also likes to hit hard into the ball and not stay too passive, but he knows how to do it better than the Brazilian and, for once, I actually find him pretty good at the start of this season. I find him interesting: he’s tall and serves well, he’s also comfortable at the net with all the doubles he plays. I’ve put him on my “back list” this season and for now he seems to be delivering. He went to play Davis Cup at home in Chile, playing two matches, one singles and one doubles, and got two fairly clean wins. Not a long trip and good confidence.

The H2H is 3–2, it’s pretty tight, but I still see better momentum on Barrios’ side.