Conditions made for Comesana?

The Argentine is a good server and he’s naturally better when it’s fast, right?

Comesana is really struggling this season despite a few good matches; he’s missing that little extra something to make the difference, and for now it’s just not clicking. Last week he won another set before losing again, it’s brutal but he deserves his defeats every time because he doesn’t keep his level of play up until the end. I don’t know if this tournament will allow him to win a match, but on paper I like the conditions: if his serve is working well he can do damage, but on the other hand it’s not easy to control the ball here and the clay is honestly slow, it’s a weird mix. I’ve already seen him completely lose the plot in conditions like these.

Another problem is that he’s playing Martinez. The Spaniard has found a great level again since Buenos Aires, and I even want to give him credit for his loss to Dzumhur in Rio because the match was really high level on both sides. Instinctively you don’t think these are ideal conditions for Martinez here, and yet he has quite a record! Champion in 2022, semi-finalist in 2024, and last year he went out in the first round but to the eventual winner, that’s serious stuff. He gets a bit more power here and his game suits the place too: he’s not afraid to dictate with his forehand and follow into the net. He’ll be a serious outsider again this year.

Form is slightly on his side, as is confidence. Comesana leads 1–0 on altitude clay in Madrid, but be careful, these are really not the same conditions at all; the clay here has nothing to do with the one in Madrid.