Final!

Darderi showed up this week, and Hanfmann emerges as the unexpected surprise.

A surprise that isn’t really one, Hanfmann is known for being particularly strong on high-altitude clay, but the path was long before we could picture him in the final. He’s alternated between convincing wins and huge lapses, he plays with a certain nonchalance but I can tell you he’s been fighting hard this week. I’m going to qualify his win over Cerundolo yesterday though: I read in some match summaries that he played like a top-10 player and that it was the best match of his career, whereas to start with, Cerundolo was sick and on antibiotics. The Argentine was nowhere near his best level and I found Hanfmann good without being exceptional; even his rating for the match shows “only” 7.6, which is far from top-10 standards, for example. His tournament overall is excellent though, the level is there as well as the attitude, he deserves his spot in the final.

Darderi also deserves his place in the final, he lived up to his seeding and has been gaining momentum as the matches go by. The matches aren’t perfect, but he puts so much energy into his attitude that it makes up for the rest. His power is crazy and he also takes full advantage of the conditions, in a different style. He’s also much more experienced at this stage of a competition, he already has several titles to his name, whereas Hanfmann has never won a title on the main tour and is coming off two losses in finals. That’s a very important aspect of this matchup for me. Darderi is also leading 2–0 in their head-to-head, nothing too decisive either, and it’s true that at altitude Hanfmann has more chances of winning than elsewhere, but I’m not particularly a fan of the matchup. The German has only faced defensive/resilient profiles and will now have to deal with a completely different type of player. Darderi won’t let him play as much as the others did while still defending just as well; he’s really the strongest opponent Hanfmann has had to face this week.