Gotta keep it going

Berrettini wasn’t perfect in his first match, but at least his body held up. Now I’m expecting him to raise his level!

The Italian didn’t have an easy match for his comeback; he ran into a valiant Coria who gave everything to make life difficult for him. The Argentine did what he could but he was cooked by the end of the match and wasn’t offering much anymore. Berrettini got the job done without being exceptional, which is normal for a return match, and on clay on top of that. Round 2 will still be within his reach, Kopriva is a good clay-courter but remains well below a good Berrettini. The Czech has a weak serve, he makes up for it with great court sense and mobility, but he needs everything in his game to click in order to be at the required level.

In his first-round match he wasn’t impressive either, he often got pegged back on the scoreboard and wasn’t clinical, even though he was up against a not very dangerous type of opponent. This time he’ll be facing a big server and an exceptional aggressor; he’ll have to find solutions to absorb the pressure without being in trouble every time, but that seems very complicated to me once again. Logically, we should see the Italian win relatively comfortably, but I recommend keeping an eye on his match to watch out for a potential physical drop-off.