Who would have thought?

Instead of a Tien / Cobolli, we end up with a Pinnington / Čilić. That’s great!

HUGE fight from Pinnington yesterday against Spizzirri. Neither of them wanted to give an inch, and, as very often, it’s the more tired of the two who ends up winning. Faced with Marin Cilic’s razor-sharp performance against a Quinn who really wasn’t bad at all, you can’t help but think it’s going to be tough for the Brit. But damn, he’s so surprising! I’m not going to go chasing endurance concerns here against Cilic, although in the case of a 3-set match, it could have an impact. I’m more looking at the ones linked to explosiveness. Against Marin, if you’re half a second late, the ball’s already behind you and it’s over. I think the Croat finished his match with a rating above 9, which isn’t something you see every day. He was ruthless, and I don’t see how Pinnington can stop him when he’s in this kind of groove, even less so given the experience gap at this stage of the competition. Pinnington will give it everything, he’s generous in his effort. He serves well and will probably be able to hold on for at least a set. But even when you make it to a tie-break against a Cilic playing at this level, good luck. Actually, there’s only one big argument in favor of Pinnington: his quality from the baseline. If you manage to neutralize Marin’s power and his laser-like trajectories in order to move him around all four corners of the court, then you’ve got a match. That’s Pinnington’s only chance. Do I feel like betting on that? Clearly not...