The nice surprise?

Pellegrino is going to try to get Darderi, and we honestly want to believe it given the Italian's level...

Already 4 wins in Santiago for Pellegrino. I remember his match against Etcheverry in Santiago and I wrapped up the review by saying he was going to be interesting in the coming weeks if he kept going like that! He’s just confirmed it by beating Comesana and honestly there was no contest, Comesana only almost managed to turn the match around in the second set but otherwise he was dominated from start to finish. Pellegrino serves relatively well and above all he’s got a forehand that works like a charm in these conditions! He’s holding up well physically too, plus he’s got a day of rest so normally everything’s fine. I’m just a bit worried about pressure and handling it mentally, this is new for him at this level and I don’t know how he’s dealing with it, but that’s all.

Darderi is a heavy favorite, which is normal, but the Italian’s last two matches have clearly been bad. In Rio it was a tricky sequence against a tricky player, but yesterday it was against Navone in conditions that should normally have suited him, except no, he played very badly. A ton of unforced errors, sloppy shots and a set dropped even though Navone wasn’t playing very well either. Darderi says the night-session conditions weren’t easy, fair enough. The truth is he’s spraying the ball a lot and he’s been worse since Buenos. Without raising his level tomorrow he could be in danger again, but still scraping through with the win like he often does?