Announced semi-final

No surprise in this part of the draw, but not a great impression from our two Argentinians

Cerundolo is the top seed, he’s only played two matches and I can’t say he’s been perfect. Against Dellien he saved several set points and then against Kopriva he got caught off guard at the start of the match before tightening up his game, but once again it wasn’t as good as expected. He says he was surprised by the Czech’s game, ok… This time for sure there won’t be any surprises against Etcheverry, they’ve known each other since they were kids and they know how to play one another.

So Etcheverry is in the semis, but without being dominant. Only his R1 is clean in terms of score, but in the next two matches he loses a set while facing players in great form. If I compare with Cerundolo, I’d say he hasn’t lost a set but it’s even less convincing in terms of level of play. Now we’re in the semi-finals, the stakes change and the reference points are there. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Cerundolo raise his level, but right now it’s Etche that I’ve found a bit better. As for the head-to-head, it’s 6–4 for Cerundolo but it’s tight and there are some Futures matches in there, it’s not clear domination.

Although Cerundolo is capable of raising the intensity and having a higher peak level, I’m not thrilled and I really don’t like his odds, 1.46 is low given his first two rounds. Etche had to battle harder but the level was definitely there.