Revenge!!

Tabilo’s win over Tirante last week in Rio in a tight match, same players, here we go again!

7/6 6/7 6/1 for Tabilo last week, Tirante had completely blown up physically in the last set. You’d think this week he’d be the fresher one, but he’s just played 3 hours of matches again and Tabilo is particularly determined to have a good tournament. He got through his first match without showing any sign of fatigue, which reassures me on that front, especially with the rest day. So I think physically it’s going to be a real battle and that in the end Tabilo will once again be the better of the two.

In terms of play it was very tight in Rio, they’re both good servers who know how to put the right intensity on their service games and follow up with the forehand, whereas they don’t return very well and struggle in defense. With the altitude and the speed of the courts we should see a similar match dictated by the serves, this really has tie-break written all over it! I trust Tabilo a bit more in every area though; he’s more stable in his game and mentally compared to a still muddled and inconsistent Tirante. I’m hesitating between a very close win for Tabilo where he can’t manage to break, or a more controlled win like 7/5 6/3 with one break in each set.